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Although many people have the tendency to equate service-oriented architecture (SOA) with web services, SOA has less to do with technology than it does with culture. SOA is a set of design principles for building software systems. SOA adopts a service-centric approach that is subtly but significantly different from previous application-centric architectures. At its core, SOA is about factoring functionality into shared, reusable services, and applications are built by assembling those services into automated business processes.
SOA is not a product. It isn't something that you build or buy. SOA is something you do. It's an approach taken when building software systems. SOA is like health and fitness. There is no quick fix. You can't just buy a diet book and join a health club and expect to get fit. You have to follow the diet and exercise regularly. It requires a lifestyle change. The same is true of SOA.
For maximum return, organizations will have to make significant changes throughout the enterprise. SOA will obviously impact the software development lifecycle (SDLC), but it will also impact operations and accounting. And it will require a new level of collaboration across unfamiliar departmental boundaries.
Change is disruptive, and most people naturally resist it until they understand the benefit that they personally will derive from it. Hence new incentives are necessary—especially since most organizations' current incentives run counter to good SOA behavior. A project team won't spend the additional time and effort required to design reusable services if they are compensated based on getting the project delivered as quickly as possible at the lowest possible cost.
SOA requires a concerted campaign, led by enthusiastic evangelists who can inspire everyone to get on board. SOA requires an executive sponsor—someone with sufficient clout to implement high-level changes in accounting and incentive practices.
SOA also requires an investment in education and technology. Most services will be built using existing application platforms, but a few new products will be required to support legacy integration, management, and mediation.
Most important, SOA requires a strong governance program. Without governance, a SOA initiative will most likely spiral into chaos. Organizations that don't currently impose governance processes in the SDLC will be hard pressed to maintain control over the initiative.
Analysis
Service-oriented architecture (SOA) promises to deliver powerful business benefits, such as increased flexibility and better alignment between information technology (IT) and business. Unfortunately, SOA is not a solution that comes in a tidy little box. You can't just go out and buy a turnkey SOA solution from your favorite enterprise software vendor and get “instant SOA” (regardless of what the vendors tell you).
The products the vendors provide—technologies such as “SOA platforms” or an “enterprise service bus” (ESB)—won't make your systems service-oriented. These SOA technologies are simply tools. It's up to the system designers to figure out how to use them properly. (And unfortunately, the instruction manual is pretty cryptic.)
SOA technologies are like exercise equipment. No matter how good the exercise equipment is, you won't get fit unless you use it. In fact, it often doesn't matter what type of exercise equipment you use, just so long as you exercise regularly. For many people, a pair of running shoes is more effective than an expensive membership at a gym. The equipment can influence your chance of success—you're likely to exercise more if you enjoy it—but discipline is what really matters. Likewise, no matter how good your SOA technology might be, you won't get service-oriented systems unless you follow service-oriented design principles.
SOA is something you do. It is a design style. It is an approach to building systems in which the fundamental unit of design is a reusable service. This service-centric approach is fundamentally different from the application-centric design focus that most organizations use today.
Like physical fitness, SOA requires a lifestyle change. In fact, success with SOA has much more to do with culture than it has to do with technology. It doesn't matter what type of SOA technology you use—what matters is how you use the technology, and how you go about designing service-oriented systems. In fact, organizations should be careful not to rely too heavily on a single product for SOA, because a product can act like a crutch.
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