There's been quite a bit of debate in the industry as of late as to whether a "bottom-up" or "top-down" approach is the best way to roll out an SOA program. Why not do both?
ebizQ colleague David Kelly has been tracking the development of SOA within a large, multi-billion dollar US technology company which has been employing such a "dual" approach -- fostering pilot projects in business units not ready for SOA, while at the same time formulating an enterprise architecture strategy build around SOA methodologies.
The company's main challenges include managing a wide range of heterogeneous applications, including ERP, CRM and other packaged applications from a variety of vendors, as well as being able to integrate consistently with business partners, customers and other external entities.
"This company decided on a step-by-step approach," David writes. "They've started off by implementing a selected number of services that are core to a number of business processes and deploying them in situations where there's a high degree of confidence that the solution will work. At the same time, however, they are experimenting and piloting SOA solutions in some areas that are not as fully ready for deployment. This dual-track approach allows them to demonstrate short-term success from specific projects while continuing to move the organization towards a strategic, SOA infrastructure."
Read the rest of David's account here.
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