IS SOA DEAD? And 5 Ways to Revive It!
Blog: Business Process Blog
Is SOA dead? Could be! The Genie is referring to the most recent blog by Andrea Thomas Manes of the Burton Group http://apsblog.burtongroup.com/2009/01/soa-is-dead-long-live-services.html and her assertion that SOA has been killed by the economy and lack of success. Please if you have not read this very interesting blog installment…go out and read it now. Andrea is on The Genie’s “must read” BPM blog list.
But The Genie would not call the florist and get the casket out yet. In fact SOA has proved to be an effective and highly leveraged methodology. Remember SOA is just an architectural pattern to accomplish goals. Many people are effectively leveraging SOA as an architectural pattern to some success. Unfortunately, most companies The Genie interacts with have done little more than leveraged SOA as a standardized way to implement large application development and integration projects.
Most companies have gotten too caught up in the component debate of which ESB, repository or governance methodology to use and have not focused on the ultimate goal which was flexibility and decoupling of components for faster/better response to BUSINESS NEED. So SOA has been little more than a science project in some organizations and provided little value outside a science project in most. So, we ask again…is SOA dead?
Well if so, The Genie thinks one way to resurrect SOA is to apply it to BPM. By implementing BPM using the architectural pattern of SOA, companies may actually attain the very real current and future benefits of reusable process components that can be assembled and reassembled in a fast, flexible manner to meet business needs and make a more responsive organization. Implementing BPM via SOA also means you can incorporate the newest IT ideas like cloud computing while leveraging the work you have already done.
But applying SOA to BPM is not in itself a recipe for success. For any SOA/BPM project to succeed “The ProcessGenie 5 Key SOA/BPM Success Factors”TM need to exist in and around your project and company (or you need to be actively getting them in place) in order to succeed.
PG Success Factor 1 – For enterprise success you need enterprise vision and control.
PG Success Factor 2 – Don’t start from a software vendor perspective.
PG Success Factor 3 – Start small
PG Success Factor 4 – Think BIG
PG Success Factor 5 – Make sure you are providing business value
We’ll elaborate on each of these points in upcoming blogs. In the meantime, The Genie has always felt that none of us is as smart as all of us…so chip in your thoughts, feelings and experience. If you feel strongly about it and have more to say than the comment field allows, reach out to us and we can have YOU share your feelings via this blog either under your name or through The Genie alias!
Hope to hear from you and good luck in your projects!!!
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