Service Oriented Architecture Field Guide for Executives

6.6. APPLYING SOA TO OTHER SECTORS AND SPECIFIC INDUSTRIES

If the market sector and specific industry that you are focused on has already been covered in this chapter, then you are in luck. If not, however, then you will need to identify parallels with respect to business challenges and opportunities that you can use to draw conclusions regarding SOA's applicability to your sector and industry.

The following tips can help in identifying one or more parallel case studies to get you started on the road to SOA adoption. Some of these may seem fairly obvious, others less so.

• Begin by looking for a similar business:

  • First, try to find a business in the same sector, and same or similar industry.

  • Next, try to find a business of roughly the same size in the same sector, but a different industry.

  • If you are still empty-handed, then look for a business of roughly the same size that has similar challenges but is in an entirely different market sector.

• Next, look for businesses with similar objectives:

  • Document your business drivers (i.e., time to market, cost control, agility/responsiveness, efficiency, productivity, etc.).

  • Look for businesses in your same sector and industry with similar drivers.

  • Look in other sectors and industries for businesses with similar drivers.

• Finally, look for businesses with similar challenges:

  • Document your biggest pain points (i.e., system integration, development costs, maintenance costs, inflexible architecture, scalability, etc.).

  • Look for businesses in your same ...