Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
12.4 Lessons Learnt
Over the course of the two years during which the Business Experiment ran, several
lessons have been learnt as to the choice and development of the technology, the
chosen approaches, the architecture put forward. Additional lessons relate to the
customer's expectations and its management.
12.4.1 Organisations' Main Motivation to Migrate to SOA
In his SOA Maturity Model, Theo Beack, Chief SOA Architect at SoftwareAG,
summarizes the main issues faced when interfacing with new customers:
“Organisations are all inundated with information about SOA and the steps [this]
require[s]…” (Beack 2006). The first lesson to retain is that SOA confuses many
decision makers when wondering whether to make a strategic move which may
halt or hinder an enterprise's IT operations over a significant period of time during
which the transition takes place.
To avoid this adverse reaction, the customer, be it the online gaming platform
provider or any IT enterprise, needs to have the key benefits delivered by the VHE
clearly explained. The latter brings a clear roadmap to SOA adoption along with the
adequate tools and an architecture that allows growth and expansion. It is important
to accompany enterprises in their migration by supporting them with a clear plan.
The VHE should first provide a point of reference which is the main aim of the
SOA realization. Based on that reference, the organisation should create a common
vision and understanding of what it wants to realize with SOA and what it means
for its IT operations and business in general. In a later stage, the organisation should
identify gaps between its current state of the art and what it wants to achieve. Lastly,
before deciding to proceed, it should prioritize and measure the impact of SOA and
the VHE on its business and in particular try to measure the Return on Investment
(RoI) to determine whether it is worthwhile. An additional stage in this plan should
consider, prioritize and plan actions for improvement of the architecture being put
forward. Only with the adequate framework will enterprises become less reluctant
and start adopting the VHE.
Another key aspect that is increasingly proving useful to incite enterprises to
adopt an SOA strategy is the ability to cut operation costs (mainly electricity used in
running servers and the necessary cooling equipment) and the linked environmental
concern. A recent article in the Wall Street & Technology Journal (2009) highlights
that more and more Wall St. firms are turning to SOA architectures and virtualiza-
tion technologies to cut their electric bill and become greener. This approach is
helping them to save their energy consumption and generally helps them reduce
manpower and “do more with less”. This is in line with current IT budgets which
are suffering massive cuts due to the 2009 recession. Where enterprises were once
reluctant to evolve to an SOA or VHE approach, the current financial situation is
forcing them to.
Enterprises can also particularly benefit from this approach by generating profits
from once locked-in value-adding services. BT, for instance, has launched in March
