The Insider's Guide to Business and IT Agility
By John Crupi, CTO, JackBe , 12/13/2007
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The SOA ROI is difficult, if not impossible, to define and measure. Have you noticed that the press and the blogosphere are filled with SOA implementers and analysts discussing the ROI of SOA and the idea that stand-alone SOA efforts are dead? Why? Because SOA is a middleware technology and ROI is measured based on usage. Ultimately, these ROI discussions all seem to reach the same conclusion: 'Enterprise SOA ROI hinges on the ability to demonstrate value to the business at large — more growth, revenue opportunities, and all that good stuff.' said ebizQ's Joe McKendrick. And that’s the problem.
Let's face it, SOA is plumbing; buzz-worthy plumbing, but still plumbing. Your average business executive (think sales manager, marketing director, finance officer, or customer support rep) doesn’t understand SOA or, more importantly, grasp how it can help them with their day-to-day issues. In fact, if business folk think about it all, they probably just hope it stays out of sight and doesn’t get in the way of the IT projects that do address their needs.
SOA needs to shift from an IT-centric technology to a business accelerator solution. To paraphrase Macehiter/Ward-Dutton in their recent note, 'More big vs small thinking: SOA vs BPM', IT must focus on where the real business value of SOA lies. That means it needs help. Macehiter/Ward-Dutton point out that BPM can help distill some SOA value up to the business level. And as some of the Enterprise Ajax companies can attest, Rich Internet Application (RIA) tools like Silverlight, Flash/Flex, and Ajax also make good SOA service consumers. But a few RIA applications do not justify an enterprise-wide multi-year SOA effort. We need the business folks to talk about SOA like they do their CRM and ERP: as critical to their work.
Customer leads, purchase orders, inventory. These are the things business users understand. If SOA gets helps get this kind of data and functionality to them, faster and cheaper than they get it today, then you’ve got a winner. And this is where enterprise mashups enter the conversation: a middleware technology that actually involves the user. A mashup is a micro-integration of multiple Web-enabled sources. ‘Web-enabled sources’ is a fancy way of saying SOA and any service that adheres to standards and runs on the ubiquitous Web protocol: HTTP.
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ROUNDTABLE: Stretch Your Budget with smart SOA Governance-A Look at Successful Case Studies
ROUNDTABLE: Open Source Market Update
Insurance: Explore how SOA & BPM are driving down expenses and improving ROI
BPM VIEWPOINT: Are You Asking Yourself the Hard Questions about BPM in Today's Economy? 
BPM VIEWPOINT: Does Oracle/Sun Mean It's a Horse Race for BPM?
Managing Case Management Within BPM
BPM VIEWPOINT: How Do You Look at BPM?
When It Comes to BPM Type, It All Depends on You
BPM VIEWPOINT: Does Case Management Fill in the Gaps in the BPM Spectrum?
ebizQ is very interested in what you have to say. To contribute an article, an opinion, or to become a blogger, please contact Peter Schooff.
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June 3, 2009
One of the most compelling trends in the enterprise business technology space over the past year has been the emergence of cloud computing. In ebizQ’s upcoming Qcamp virtual un-conference, leading industry experts and practitioners will explore the role of service-oriented architecture (SOA) and business process management (BPM) in supporting cloud-computing initiatives. Additionally, the new skills that developers and IT managers need for successful cloud development will be discussed.Register
Date: Aug 26, 2009
Time: 12:00 PM
ET- (16:00 GMT)
Date: Sep 30, 2009
Time: 12:00 PM
ET- (16:00 GMT)
Date:Aug 26, 2009
Time:12:00 PM
ET- (16:00 GMT)
Date:Sep 30, 2009
Time:12:00 PM
ET- (16:00 GMT)
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