Move to SOA can be rewarding for companies, users say

Starting from scratch is one thing. Thinking from scratch and leveraging what you have is another. I makes sense really. Consider what you want, then consider what you have that can solve those needs. with the remaining gap, start planning how to fill it, considering future expansion, flexibility, and in a nutshell, evolution. Computerworld January 2007 discusses how the SOA framwork can be part of that solution:

Move to SOA can be rewarding for companies, users say: "January 30, 2007 (Computerworld) -- SAN DIEGO -- For many companies, the move to a service-oriented architecture (SOA) can yield substantial rewards, including reduced operating costs and better customer service. But those benefits only show up after companies work through thorny problems like obtaining executive buy-in, shifting the way development groups operate and hammering out sometimes contentious new business rules, according to users at The Open Group's Enterprise Architecture Practitioners Conference here.

...company has tapped SOA to help shorten development times and pull more value from legacy systems.

'One of the primary benefits of SOA is to get our solutions to market faster and anticipate and respond to competitive threats quicker,' Whitridge said. 'We're not taking SOA as a rip-and-replace strategy. We're trying to figure out how to use what we have and enhance it.'"

Transition Planning

When planning your transition to the new world, please keep in mind that not only may you change systems and processes, but how people think (about how they do business and how they can do business.) You have seen recent changes. People are learning about new ideas from friends, kids, andoverheard at the local coffee shop. You witness some of these changes happening in your own work place. You know the time is ripe. How do you get everyone on board?

Community Buy-in

You've done the hard part. You secured top-down buy-in from your senior executives. Now how do you manage the transitions among the ranks? How do you know you will succeed? See how this strategy might work for you and refine as needed:

• exec support


• ownership, responsibility, accountability


• examine and refine process first


• examine, categorize, & refine business rules in detail


• identify gaps between current state and future state


• assess integration points - how will you integrate existing with new frameworks?


• thought leadership - organizational change - community building - shared data, shared ideas, shared business goals

These are just a few ideas to consider. In what ways do you reach out to your middle managers and community? How do they become part of the keys to change? How do you embrace change?

Welcome to March. First Quarter is coming to a close. How will the rest of the year bring success?
Kate