Fuzzy math

SOA surveys come up with mixed results.

By James Kobielus , Network World , 10/10/2005

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SOA is still a fuzzy concept to many corporate IT professionals, and it sprawls, in many people's minds, across a wide range of loosely related technologies and approaches.

According to a recent IDG Research Services Group survey , IT professionals are almost evenly split between people who claim some familiarity with SOA (52%) and those who admit they haven't a clue (48%). Likewise, the split was almost even between those respondents who reported strong confidence in SOA's long-term potential (55%) and those whose confidence was lacking or lackluster (45%).

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IDG asked that same group of respondents to associate various phrases with SOA. The respondents ranked the most accurate SOA descriptor -- "reusable applications" -- fifth among the options given.

Respondents ranked "software as a service," "enterprise application integration," "Web services registries/repositories," and "frequent use of Web services" higher, even though those phrases don't directly articulate SOA's core meaning.

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If popular understanding of SOA concepts is fuzzy, what's even fuzzier is any reliable data on who exactly is implementing SOA, with what degree of commitment, and at what level in the organization.

Tips for creating an SOA roadmap

• Gain a solid commitment from senior IT and business managers, based on such business benefits as accelerated development, reduced cost and greater business agility.

• Provide developers with the training, tools, guidelines and incentives necessary to get them thinking in SOA terms, and to discourage development of oneoff and non-modular applications.

• Reorganize IT governance processes aimed at enforcing organizationwide adherence to SOA best practices.

• An enterprise SOA road map should incorporate the requisite philosophy, culture, practices, tools and infrastructure. The more of these road map components you've established in your organization, the closer you are to realizing the full ROI on your commitment to SOA.

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In that same IDG study, 28% of respondents stated that their companies are implementing SOA, with slightly less than half of those SOA implementers merely conducting pilot projects. Of those respondents who are considering SOA but don't currently have pilot projects, IDG found that only 22% are actively investigating SOA-based solutions over the coming year.

However, a recent Forrester Research survey of large North American companies reported that more than 70% of respondents have already implemented SOA. Forrester analysts say that by the end of 2005, 51% of midsize companies and 46% of small businesses will have adopted SOA, as well.

The problem is that the surveys don't get at how many of the people responding to these surveys are clear on precisely what they mean by SOA, and it's not clear how far along the respondent is on the long road to SOA.

Without a doubt, realizing SOA's full ROI will be impossible without the appropriate technical infrastructure and organizational commitment, operating hand in hand.