SOA Deployment Spells Success -- If You Choose Right

The SOA deployment model IT organizations choose can determine the success or failure of the SOA pilot project. The first thing to consider with respect to the SOA deployment pilot is what level of "visibility" within the organization the proposed project has. This question actually has more to do with the "champion" in the company than it does the project team.

SOA Deployment Contingent Upon "Visibility" of SOA Project

Who is this champion who "owns" SOA in the company? And what has he or she done to sell SOA deployment within the company? Has the selling been done on the inside track -- covertly? Or has the necessary evangelism required the SOA champion to go out and publicly solicit support and funding within the firm? It is important to understand how the champion succeeded in gaining support for the SOA deployment project ...

A stakeholder with a great deal of authority in the firm will have the power to obtain approval to execute pilot SOA deployment projects -- even if they have low visibility: projects, for example, that have technical or infrastructure benefits, but which may not have broad business appeal. For IT, this means it will have an opportunity to do something that doesn't involve a lot of people looking over its collective shoulder. It affords the opportunity to fail in anonymity -- and take corrective measures in relative peace.

SOA Deployment and "High Visibility" Projects

On the other hand, in the case where SOA deployment is already happening and IT is either behind the eight ball -- trying to catch up to the competition -- or the situation is one in which management is demanding a lot of proof points before funding the SOA, then IT will need to look at a SOA deployment that will have high visibility within the organization.

The good news about a high-visibility SOA deployment is that the business benefits are generally easier to spot and quantify than is the case with technically-oriented, "low-visibility" SOA deployments. ROI is more easily demonstrated, too.

On the downside, however, IT needs to be aware that along with the benefits of high-visibility SOA deployment comes management scrutiny. Whenever someone or something falters with respect to the SOA deployment, IT will get "picked on". And, because this is the world in which IT must function, politics will inevitably play their role in high-visibility SOA deployments. There will be those people outside the SOA team who will try to sabotage the work of the team -- or those who will simply wish to grandstand.

User-Facing SOA Deployment is Often the Best Bet

User-facing SOA deployment is one of the things most often seen in early SOA deployments. Often, showing managers a SOA portal, for example, that calls on and reuses a number of services makes it easier for these managers to understand the benefits of SOA. From the technological standpoint, this approach may not be as elegant as one would desire, but it can be important for the people who must sign off on the SOA deployment -- the line-of-business and senior managers -- to see what they're going to get: something apparently new and shiny. A portal, for example, may be built employing older technologies, leveraging older services. But just the act of showing managers a new face on a user-facing application will be much more effective (in terms of winning support for the SOA) than engaging in SOA-enabling (invisible) back-end processes.

For More Information

Learn how selecting the right SOA deployment model can spell success. Register to watch the free webinar, Implementing a Successful SOA Pilot