My "sales pitch" for SOA has been the same for a while http://service-architecture.blogspot.com/2008/09/selling-soa.html
"Then that is what SOA is about, its about making the IT estate look like the business, evolve like the business and be costed in line with the business value it creates" For me SOA is a business transformation programme for IT, the detail benefits are nice to have but the vision and goal are the important things. Steve 2008/9/29 Kirstan Vandersluis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > --- In [email protected], "Anne Thomas > > Manes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> Kirstan said: >> >> > Is there something else you would add to the list besides agility? >> > How about "cost efficiencies for a particular desired strategic, >> > long term outcome"? The goals of SOA should give a company a high >> > level idea of whether they are interested in pusuing it. e.g. if >> > you don't need agility, as some businesses don't, then don't bother >> > with an SOA initiative. This oversimplifies, but on the other hand, >> > if we don't agree on the goals of SOA, then any vendor of any >> > product or service will make a case that a prospect needs SOA. And >> > of course, this is what has been happening. >> >> I contend that each organization must identify its own goals for its >> SOA initiative. Those goals should be established based on business >> needs, and the goals should drive the direction of the initiative. >> Non-specific goals such as "increase agility and reduce costs" aren't >> particularly useful because they are so difficult to measure. >> >> A SOA initiative should focus on business outcomes. What can you do >> that will deliver measurable benefits that the business will >> appreciate? >> >> Example deliverables include: >> - better quality data >> - improved operational efficiency >> - optimization of complex business processes >> - simplification of B2B processes >> - channel consolidation >> - single view of the customer >> - more consistent enforcement of policy >> - better visibility into processes for compliance requirements >> - reduced redundancy in the application and/or data portfolio >> >> Anne > > What I struggle with in this instance, is answering the question, "why > would I want to pursue an SOA, and how would I justify the costs?". > I'm sure its a multi-layered answer. But Anne, it seems we could > generalize a little bit, as a summary of improvements SOA could bring > to a typical enterprise. > > -Kirstan > >
