<<Two SOA studies hit the streets this week, and both seem to confirm
what we've been seeing within the SOA space in recent times: that
return on investment -- for the business -- has become the most
important criteria for SOA going forward. And one of the studies
suggests that companies may be retrenching on SOA plans.
Does this reflect a new skepticism about SOA; that maybe the
methodology isn't delivering on all its promises?
I think the results show us something else: the fact that businesses
are seriously seeking ROI from SOA means that SOA is no longer seen as
something that is confined to IT shops. We could quibble over numbers,
but it can be assumed that in many cases, SOA methodologies have
helped streamline many IT operations and cut development time, thanks
to reuse of services and interfaces.
Now, SOA has risen to the level of a business strategy -- and
expectations are naturally higher as a result.
In a study I was involved in, the latest Evans Data survey on SOA and
Web services, we found that determining the return on investment for a
SOA project is the greatest challenge facing developers working on SOA
programs. The survey of almost 400 developers and managers finds that
almost one in five cited ROI as the most challenging aspect, more than
identifying available Web services, testing and validation, or
absorbing the expense.
Savings from services reuse is the most common economic benefit in SOA
projects globally, the survey also found. The issue is that ROI is
something that needs to be measured from business results from areas
across the enterprise. As discussed frequently at this blogsite,
initial results from SOA-based efforts are delivering IT cost
efficiencies, but the impact on business agility or improved business
processes is tough to measure.
The survey also found that four out of five participating
organizations, 84%, either have service oriented architecture in place
or plan to do so within the next 12 months. For the most part, Evans
Data surveys going back to 2004 have found SOA to be underway or
planned in a minority of companies. It was only at the end of 2007
that this number crossed in to the majority, when 60% reported having
SOA in place, or planning for adoption within the coming year.
The survey also found that companies desperately need enterprise or
SOA architects with both business and technical skills. Within the
next 12 months, two out of five respondents will be engaged full-time
in SOA and Web services projects. In addition, close to seven out of
ten respondents report they need professionals skilled in the merging
of business and technology, and would consider creating a special role
within their organizations for an architect who can very precisely
translate business processes into IT services.
Another new survey, issued by Gartner, found that SOA doesn't seem to
be as popular as it was a year ago. Gartner says that since the
beginning of 2008, "there has been a dramatic fall in the number of
organizations that are planning to adopt SOA for the first time." Last
year, in 2007, 53% of organizations in surveys were planning to launch
their first SOA forays, a number that dropped to 25% this year.
Currently, 53% of the companies Gartner surveyed have SOA-based
projects in progress. (Presumably, many would have been those in the
planning stages in last year's survey.) Sixteen percent had no plans
at all to adopt SOA, up from six percent in 2007.
Daniel Sholler, research vice president at Gartner, said organizations
are more aware these days that SOA is not something adopted on the
fly, and that a deliberative governance process is needed to make SOA
a worthy business venture. And, as also noted frequently here at this
blogsite, there's a shortage of professionals with the skills to bring
it all together:
"Organizations without a clear business case for SOA and without a
plan to develop or acquire the necessary skills are justified in
taking a cautious approach, and delaying SOA adoption plans for the
coming year. The focus should be on creating shared services and the
governance processes necessary for sharing within a reasonable domain.
Larger organizations (more than 5,000 employees) are challenged to
create enterprise governance."
The Gartner statement observes that "the two major reasons that
organizations choose for not pursuing SOA are a lack of skills and
expertise, and no viable business case." Gartner also said that
"conversations with many Gartner clients have shown that there is a
great deal of confusion about how to construct a business case for
SOA. Even if a valid business case exists, then the required skills
are often unavailable in-house, and the costs and effort to develop
in-house skills and acquire outside expertise are often daunting.">>
You can read this at:
http://www.soainaction.com/blog/2008/11/two_studies_confirm_show_me_th.php
Gervas
