Service-oriented architecture (SOA) looks and sounds very technical. The word "architecture" certainly makes it sound technical, and the fact that it is "service-oriented" makes it sound even more mysterious. So, it is no wonder that SOA is viewed as an IT-driven initiative.
The History of IT-Driven Initiatives
When object-oriented development entered the scene, it was very IT-centric. Component-based solutions were a natural outcome of the maturing process of object-oriented development, as were message-based solutions. More recent, broader solutions include EA, BPM, and BI, for example. In all cases, there are significant technology perspectives that cannot be trivialized. It is up to IT to recognize that a new technology exists that is applicable to a business problem, to prove the concept, and to introduce it to the business community. The same holds true for SOA.
The business, on the other hand, will not be distracted from their primary mission: running the business by any new technology until they are convinced that it will provide value. However, once the applicability of the new technology (in this case, SOA) is proven, it is up to the business, not IT, to decide what services will provide value and when to develop them.
The Desired State for SOA
IT has a lot of work to do to establish and prove a services architecture. During this period, the business works across functional silos to identify processes for automation and uncovers candidate services when they discover shared processes. The business then determines the business value of these services and works with IT to determine the cost of developing and deploying them.
The business monitors the impact that the portfolio of services has on the business and feeds the results into the governance program where decisions are made regarding current and future initiatives. The point is, in the desired state, SOA is business-driven, not IT-driven; IT is the enabler.
Leverage Your Business Architecture
To move your SOA initiative out of IT and into the business, the following business-related critical success factors must be met:
1. Know the business reason for implementing SOA. These can be many (e.g., transformation, standardization, modernization, flexibility) and can be found in your business goals and objectives.
2. The IT and business strategies must be fully aligned. They must be driven by the same set of goals and objectives.
3. The business community must trust IT. IT resources must understand the business architecture and know its relationship to the IT architecture.
4. Services must provide business value. The business architecture will tell you what business functions are affected by a given candidate service and to what degree. It will also tell you to how many of the business goals and objectives it contributes. If you cannot quantify the value in business terms, do not develop the service.
5. Governance is a must. Subject the performance of the business and the performance of IT to the same governance and oversight; IT is part of the business and must be treated as an equal partner.
I welcome your comments on this issue of the Cutter IT E-Mail Advisor and encourage you to send your insights on the market in general to comments@cutter.com.
-- Geoffrey Balmes