SOA Risk Depends on Picking the Right Pilot Project

Internal-facing SOA deployments (where the audience of the SOA is internal) imply risk to the organization -- beyond the political risk that such deployments can garner.

Nonetheless, IT can deliver a lot of value by overcoming the SOA risks inherent in implementing internal-facing deployments. Many people have overcome SOA risks and used their HR training, for example, to construct internal service-enabled human resources applications that solve some important problems. Such is the case with numerous state and local governments -- where internal-facing SOA implementations -- though not sexy -- ended up delivering great value to the organization.

SOA Risks Associated with External-Facing Implementations

And then there are the external-facing implementations. Certainly, SOA risks are implied. In fact they stare one in the face: in these cases, IT has to show concrete evidence -- typically in the form of ROI -- to prove the SOA delivers value. What's more, it's hard, with these high-visibility projects to hide the inevitable failures that happen along the way. The point, after all, is to "fail" and learn -- to figure out what the tolerances are. But management, ever watchful, can make this process difficult or even impossible.

SOA Risks Associated with Revenue-Based Implementations

And then there are revenue-based SOA deployments. These deployments present IT with the highest number of SOA risks -- because everyone in the company, executives in particular -- will be looking over IT's shoulder: examining and attempting to take the pulse of the SOA at every moment. If the organization should select a SOA project with revenue enhancement as its goal, and if the project is successful (despite the inevitable and natural problems which will occur along the way), IT can essentially count on obtaining:

• A solid ROI case
• Many useful lessons learned

... both of which will help the organization overcome SOA risks to ultimately roll out SOA enterprise-wide.

For More Information

The bottom line is that SOA risks depend a lot upon the type of SOA project -- and the goals -- selected for the pilot. Learn more about SOA risks associated with pilot projects ... and how to overcome them by registering to watch the free webinar, Implementing a Successful SOA Pilot