Top 10 SOA Management Misconceptions

The following is a compliation of the top ten most common SOA Management misconceptions:

  1. Perception: rogue services are a result of malicious code planted by hackers.
    Reality: not always. Packaged applications may contain unidentified services that are susceptible to being used in unintended ways.
  2. Perception: a company's security infrastructure prevents the proliferation of rogue services.
    Reality: services can undermine a company's security initiatives, making financial and other confidential information vulnerable.
  3. Perception: rogue services are bothersome but not dangerous.
    Reality: rogue services can lead to prosecution or company shutdowns if compliance mandates are not met.
  4. Perception: packaged applications are a main source of rogue services.
    Reality: packaged applications-as well as applications built by outside consultants or internal programmers-can be a source of rogue services.
  5. Perception: an IT department's list of Web services in production is SOA management.
    Reality: a list of services in production does not constitute SOA Management. A list does not guarantee that the organization has an accurate, complete view of all services and, therefore, is providing sufficient service monitoring or maintenance.
  6. Perception: an assortment of Web services is synonymous with a fully functioning SOA.
    Reality: unmanaged Web services are potential rogue services and open the door to service redundancies that defeat the key SOA benefit of reuse.
  7. Perception: a multitude of services comprises an architecture.
    Reality: services built as part of an SOA initiative need to be managed, governed, and secured or else the result is scattered and poorly integrated services working against each other.
  8. Perception: detecting rogue services is an arduous process.
    Reality: Web services management infrastructures that automatically detect and quarantine rogue services can be created and implemented.
  9. Perception: adding more rules to an architecture reduces risk.
    Reality: complexity actually increases risk. Organizations should implement fewer rules and automate compliance with those rules.
  10. 10. Perception: automated SOA management will alleviate all risk associated with rogue services.
    Reality: IT organizations must combine technology with a culture shift and willingness to course-correct and improve their SOA strategy.