SOA - is it about technology, personality or reality?

Lunch discussion with a group of wizards aka enterprise architects lead to this blog.. how do businesses view SOA?

Is this a technology buzzword, a way for personalities to behave or business reality?



Business gurus define businesses as a product of people, process and technology (maybe not in that order).

In that context, as a change agent where does SOA fit in ?

Depends, I guess.
For most businesses, it appears like its a new 3 letter buzzword from IT vendors to sell them same technology in a new way.
Some of the organizations have taken steps to embrace it and have defined groups / sponsors in their domains , who will champion it and drive it thru the IT foodchain.
Probably, this is most common pattern in SOA implementations, though unfortunately, it is like drinking coolade from IT vendors fountain, as they would like us to drink it.

Services should be more in the business processes and how they are used, rather than what ERP or middleware or technology enables it.
Very few organizations ( that I know of ) who are embracing it as a change in the way they do their day to day business processes.
Why should they?
Well, the most compelling way to emphasize this is:
The businesses today are continously looking at their business processes, ripping them to pieces and sending them to "units" who can best do them, and then, bringing it all together, again.

In these business value chains, the organizations and partners (vendors / customers / employees), must quickly figure out what is the role which they can play, effectively and reliably. Also, they must define clearly, how others can use these roles flexibly.
These 2 steps to me, provides a measure of how services oriented an organization will be and probably, how far they will go.

With that approach, technology probably is the least of issues (tough though it maybe). I believe it should be driven into business processes, with key people as the agents for the change.