Web Services Success Defined

With respect to implementing a successful SOA, IT organizations may often use, as a yardstick for Web services success, the number of shared services they've deployed. While this measurement may be helpful in determining conversion rate, for example, it may not be a good indicator of return on investment (ROI).

Web Services Success Use Case

A Web services success use case will help shed light on this point.

Quantifying SOA Results: Which initiative was more successful?

Actually, the more successful initiative is the one on the top. Why? While the initiative depicted on the bottom looks as though there are more shared services -- there are seven of them -- those seven services are not being leveraged as much as the three on the top. In the first initiative, the organization is getting a lot more reuse out of the same services: but no more additional development or QA time is required. Plus, fewer services running in production points to an environment that is easier to manage. The point is that IT needs to measure the right thing: in this case, Web services reuse vs. number of deployed services.

Fixating on IT Advantages Can Cancel Out Web Services Success

A word of caution: be careful touting IT-oriented advantages -- the sort of Web services success that the business won't appreciate. One of these things is service reuse. Frankly, business managers generally don't care about service reuse. Business stakeholders typically care about things that directly impact the business. For example, if IT were to say to business managers, "Because of service reuse, I have fewer developers working on the same project -- which means I have more developers to work on the next great application which will drive more sales and cut costs...," then these managers would prick up there ears and listen.

For More Information

Web services success isn't measured by the number of services your developers can deploy. Find out why: Register to watch the free webinar, Implementing a Successful SOA Pilot