Death of SOA?

My goodness, so much technology is dying! Last month it was the death of VoIP. This month, the buzz is about the death of Service Oriented Architecture. And I guess I've driven a stake through traditional telecom in past posts.

SOA is really about focusing IT/telecom technology around the services an organization desires to provide its customers, particularly as so many services move even further to a web based presentation. Seems simple enough, but because of traditional siloing within an organization, SOA becomes quite difficult, and expensive. A major reorientation of the organization is required. This is often defeated or stalled because of corporate culture. Roles, expectations, obsolescent viewpoints, (and just plain idiocy!) prevents organizations from creating the environment necessary to employ technology in a manor that enhances the goals of the organization.

Much easier to form a new company and develop SOA from the ground up. This is why many startups are so nimble and can make significant inroads into traditional markets.

Anyway, now we are looking at organizational behavior, and have drifted from the technology. But, obviously, it's all related.

And, yes, the tanked economy is certainly a major reason for the death of SOA. Who wants to make the necessary investment (with questionable results) in SOA within such a dubious economic environment? Yet, perhaps now is the perfect time. Investments improve the economy in general (note Intel's call to infrastructure investment), as well as preparing the organization for a future improving economy.

The real problem with new technology, from VoIP to SOA to FMC (fixed mobile convergence) is the necessity to make big investments financially and organizationally. Paradigm shifts, to drag out an often overused but still relevant term. There are no quick investment returns, no short term balance sheet improvements (the ugliest phrase in business... "short term").

The consultant who created the "death of SOA" headline expressed the situation well:

"If you want spectacular gains, then you need to make a spectacular commitment to change."

WOMBAT

waste of money, brains, and time

So true, standard corporate (government) disaster.