SOA allows enterprises to bring in new technologies and applications swiftly. It means they can cater for changing customer demands and play in increasingly competitive markets, while at the same time leveraging existing legacy and mainframe infrastructure. This is done primarily by middleware SOA, and more specifically, an enterprise services bus (ESB).
For example, a bank's loan processing function - the entire fulfilment cycle may touch dozens of different applications, some legacy, and some new. The ESB unifies all of these into a single environment that the CIO can manage, optimise and evolve.
The ESB sits at the heart of the architecture in any organisation that relies on legacy assets, but also needs to integrate new systems. In fact, far from being swept aside by newer concepts like Cloud Computing, according to market research firm ResearchMoz, the SOA market is expected to balloon to become a $16.4 billion industry by 2020.
ResearchMoz further says that SOA is fundamental in enabling an organisation to extend services to mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. New demands are putting pressure on the front end, as mobile applications (apps) become the de facto delivery channel for almost any consumer or transactional service imaginable.
Being able to expose services directly to consumers in a self-service context - like self-check-ins at airports and mobile banking - becomes the 'holy grail' that is generally only achievable by a concerted focus on SOA.
However, there are a host of other benefits to investing in an SOA strategy - most notably:
Therefore, the stakes are high. It becomes important to start the SOA journey with a portfolio optimisation exercise - to arrive at a thorough understanding of the existing legacy infrastructure and a clear vision of what new infrastructure the organisation aspires to in the short, medium, and long term.
SOA should not be seen as another cost centre, which is often the perception. In fact, what it actually does is optimise the investments you've already made, allows you to move with more agility and respond to market changes, and to integrate with other systems outside the organisation better.
A good example of this would be the bank that effectively uses SOA to integrate with courier companies - automating the process between customers who request bank cards, and the delivery of those cards to the right place, and at the right time.
The dangerous result of seeing SOA simply as an IT cost is that organisations become tempted into buying 'off the shelf' software that does not achieve the desired results. The basic fundamental of SOA is that it is innate to your organisation, so development needs to be tailored. Technology names and the terms may be shifting in different directions, however, as the world of business changes, SOA is more important today than ever before and can provide an organisation with a wealth of benefits, including the competitive edge required in today's business arena.
