Simply implementing service-oriented architecture (SOA) technology, such as Web services, does not mean an organisation is instantly SOA compliant.
This is according to Ina Sutherland, Ovations head of architecture design services, speaking at the ITWeb SOA conference held yesterday at The Campus, in Bryanston. She said many companies tend to put the cart before the horse when it comes to implementing an SOA strategy.
“It doesn't matter how evolved your technology is, if it can't add business value then it shouldn't be there. Think about where you should be going, and start from there and what the business should operationally do before making large investments upfront.”
Labour specialisation
Sutherland said modern organisations have not deviated much from the spirit of division of labour such as in the old production lines of Henry Ford, although they have deviated significantly from the principle.
Sutherland pointed to the SOA strategy of breaking down large jobs into many small components, and that people should focus on what they're good at.
“The idea relates primarily to the specialisation of the labour force. Essentially, until such time that the workforce goes back to fundamentals - learning to focus again only on those things they are tasked with delivering - the ideas behind SOA will continue to be elusive and so will the value.”
However, Sutherland noted that one of the biggest challenges is for company managers to relinquish control of tasks because of the political implications. “It's very difficult to take control out of the hands of key people into the hands of other people to allow others to grow beyond their core function.”
Master-slave relationship
According to Sutherland, business process management (BPM) is key to leveraging SOA, but the unification between SOA and BPM is accomplished through a master-slave relationship.
“In essence, business process is nothing more than an enterprise asset that marshals and co-ordinates activities which are enabled by the usage of the underlying functional services,” she explained.
Sutherland said that unification is difficult because of misalignment of incentives, a business culture of instant gratification, and lack of buy-in from top management.
“Consolidate and learn to reuse and sweat your assets. Re-inventing the wheel multiple times and expecting a different result every time is truly insane.”
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