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SOA for Executives: Pragmatic Advice for Today's Business
In today's challenging times, you must ensure that investments reduce costs and generate visible return faster. Despite the desire by some to "stir the SOA controversy pot," SOA remains at the forefront of driving efficiencies and containing costs. But a pragmatic approach is critical to near-term project success and long-term value.
Executives should realize that SOA is not a knee-jerk approach to fix IT. It is a strategic architectural approach, one that encompasses people, process, and technology. "It is important to keep timeframes and expectations in perspective, while growing incrementally," says Sandeep Banerjie, senior director in product management, Oracle. "Going for the quick win is important today, and will help demonstrate IT's business value. But keeping an eye on how these projects will contribute to, or potentially hinder, your long-term strategy is important too."
The following operational best practices can help to get started with SOA, advance the adoption incrementally, and help provide oversight to keep things on track and realize value every step of the way:
1. Assess the Fit
Identifying projects within your organization that can benefit the most from SOA is the critical first step. A bowling pin approach, starting with one of the following three projects and eventually growing to encompass all three is your best bet to realize maximum value:
- Process automation—where are the manual costs, exceptions, and customer complaint hot spots?
- Application integration—how critical are cross-enterprise, cross-application business processes to keeping your business nimble?
- Application modernization—are software maintenance and hardware costs creeping up, how often are these systems the bottleneck in project or process execution?
2. Organize the Broader Team
In a recent "SOA for Executives" survey by Oracle, 77% of IT executives cited "organizational readiness" as a critical success factor to SOA. Prepare your organization by looking at the roles and responsibilities that contribute to SOA success. For example, the role of a business architect or client adviser acting as the liaison between business and IT can help keep SOA projects on track. Consider setting up an "SOA center of excellence" made up of your senior technical resources to ensure that tactical projects remain aligned with the broader business and architectural strategy.
3. Enforce and Report
The biggest benefits of SOA come from visibility, and the timely access and reuse of people, process, and technology. This requires appropriate oversight and ongoing reporting to the business. Consider SOA governance practices from the outset, and implement incrementally. "With all the moving parts and reporting involved, governance acts as the glue that keeps it all together and ensures your SOA happens the way that you’ve intended", says Banerjie. In fact, "SOA for Executives" survey respondents cited lack of governance as the No. 1 issue that could limit the full potential of SOA.
Put these three best practices on your SOA checklist, and you will be on the path to success. Learn more about making the case for SOA in this issue's article, SOA Done Right Is Alive and Kicking and visit the following resources for more in-depth information:
LEARN MORE
Recorded Web Conference: Achieve Significant Return on Investment and Cost Reduction with Oracle SOA and BPM
SOA Governance Resource Kit
Free Online SOA Readiness Assessment
SOA Resource Center
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