Topic Overview: Service-Oriented Architecture For Apps Dev And Program Management Pros

For a single, isolated solution delivery project, it's OK to think of service-oriented architecture (SOA) as just Web services (WS) standards for better application integration: Your application needs something from another one, and WS technology bridges the boundaries. However, across a portfolio of solutions, this view of SOA breaks down and can easily result in siloed, point-to-point Web services that solve only short-term, project-level problems. Longer-term application delivery benefits from SOA — for example, reduced time-to-market and lower development costs — require cross-project, portfolio-level strategy and planning. SOA is proven in the market — for the past three years, 70% of current SOA users have said they will do more SOA — but getting it right requires developers to step back and ensure that they truly understand how to think correctly about what SOA is and how it will add value.