SOA now mainstream

Johannesburg, 21 Jan 2009

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is no longer the hype of yesteryear. It has entered the mainstream and more companies are enjoying success with it, according to ZapThink MD Jason Bloomberg, who is adamant the style of enterprise architecture is being viewed in a new light.

“People are asking the right questions about governance, loose coupling, best practices and business agility, one of the major benefits SOA confers,” says Bloomberg. “And they're asking the right questions up-front, seeking to solve a business problem rather than adopting SOA for SOA's sake.”

SOA is important in organisations because it is architecture, he says, and as architecture, it creates a formalised way to deal with various business issues, like solving business problems with IT. It also establishes best practices and discipline across the enterprise.

Better governance

Bloomberg says SOA has a number of benefits for organisations, including cost reduction, asset re-use, business visibility, business empowerment, and business agility. He says business agility is the most important reason for implementing SOA.

“Anyone who can say SOA adoption is slowing down fundamentally doesn't understand the fact that SOA consists of a set of best practices.”

The big win for companies implementing SOA is being able to apply SOA best practices for better governance overall, he says.