--- In [email protected], "Rob Eamon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I tend to agree with Steve that the *biggest* impact is when SO is > applied to BA to change the enterprise, not just IT. Alas, that's > clearly a much bigger job and the right person(s) are needed to make > that happen effectively.
I agree that the *biggest* impact is achieved when the business fully buys in and drives the process. But from a pragmatic standpoint, think of not only Fortune 2000 companies, but the vast hundreds of thousands of mid-size companies that could benefit from SOA. I think in only a small percentage of cases will business executives be convinced to drive SOA. At SOA World a couple weeks ago, Johan Nordin, CIO at Volvofinans (200 employee finance company for Volvo), one of the featured speakers, scoffed at the notion of a top-down mandate from business executives to drive SOA. I'm paraphrasing what he said: "I can't wait around for executives to agree and let it flow down. We wouldn't see it in my lifetime. We have to drive it from beneath and from the top." If you can't wait around for business executive support, the question becomes, can you successfully drive SOA from the IT side? I had a short conversation with Anne Manes at JavaOne, asking about the characteristics of the few SOA successes she found. One company had a surprising level of success where the primary driver was a small number of highly motivated, business-centric IT *architects*. I was surprised and relieved that an architect could have such a positive impact. Actually, I wasn't really surprised, but definitely relieved that architects were given credit for this change! IMO, 5+ years from now, with a new wave of MBA's seeping into executive management positions with better SOA-aware IT knowledge, SOA will be driven by business executives. But for now, I think for the vast majority of businesses, it will be the smart, influential, business-centric IT people who will drive SOA. -Kirstan
