SOA is a paradigm that plays an essential role when designing versatile IT landscapes. Initially the technological level fades into the background. According to business requirements, services are identified or newly designed.
In ideal cases system boundaries span over each – internal and external – business partner with concern to IT related business.
The core idea behind service oriented architectures is to regard an arbitrary IT landscape as a loosely coupled collection of services and business partners and to connect them according to business needs. The value for customers reveals from evident properties like reusability and flexibility. Operational business processes are well supported and can smartly be adapted to new or changed business requirements.
Moreover from a strategically point of view the value of a SOA might be to create emergence: Instead of impeding opportunities, a SOA enabled IT landscape conveys the creation of new business options.
Challenges
Building a SOA enabled IT landscape means inevitably to be faced with a host of challenges:
- Conflict of interests, partly caused by inadequate mediation
- Technological diversity, caused by heterogeneous systems
- Accomplishment of heavy system load in a large composite environment
- Recognition of details without loosing the holistic view
Critical factors for success
Among several important factors for success the key indicators are:
- A bright goal
- Small yet determined steps
- Methods to be on target
- Turn the theoretical benefit to reality
- Mediate success
Mediation
On the way to a structured and versatile landscape a lot of experience, methodical and technological skills and the ability to mediate are required.
On different layers SOA needs mediation qualities of acting humans, starting from recognizing the business needs, different interests and point of views of the stakeholders to harmonizing technological gaps.
Westernacher has answers to those questions that come up during design, implementation and operation of a SOA approach. Our solution Mediator provides a methodical and technological solution to transform your vision into reality.
