Service Oriented Architecture Field Guide for Executives

3.2. SOA VALUE, BEYOND THE CORE

Thus far we have looked at several valid reasons to adopt SOA: reducing integration expenses, increasing asset reuse, business agility, and reducing risk. There are additional value propositions for service orientation that are beginning to emerge within organizations, such as alignment, time-to-market, visibility, and modernization.

Alignment

Business process management (BPM) efforts have attempted to align technology teams with business strategy via well-defined business process workflows. While BPM had some success with refining and aligning human processes, technology assets proved not to be nearly as malleable. Information systems were developed as tightly integrated silos with embedded business logic. Adaptability was not a part of the design. SOA changes this. SOA breaks technology silos and monoliths into configurable services with well-defined interfaces that are ripe for inclusion into a dynamic business process that is aligned with business strategy. The synergy between SOA and BPM is tremendous, leading some organizations to embark on both of these initiatives at the same time and even to use a combined Center of Excellence.

Time-to-Market

SOA delivers on reduced time-to-market in several ways. Composing solutions from existing assets, reusing services and processes, configuring processes and services to alter their behavior, and leveraging services and processes developed by third parties enable rapid solution development. While the ...