Bread Today, Jam Tomorrow. Making SOA a Hit with Business Leaders

BICESTER, UNITED KINGDOM -- The dawn of any new age in computing comes with its false dawns, early warning bells signalling a lack of standards, security risks and promises from suppliers of silver-bullet solutions and quick fix panaceas. Small wonder that Service Oriented Architecture has been greeted with a bit of a depressed yawn from technology leaders and senior managers alike. But SOA will not go away. It is a necessary step change in accessibility to systems data within organizations, releasing data from back office databases to deliver a greater level of IT systems agility with the promise that, some day in the future, IT systems will always be able to stay in-tune with the needs of the organization they serve. 

Implementing web services is not a quick fix. IT leaders are faced with justifying upfront a sizable IT infrastructure programme; the promise of bread today in return for jam tomorrow. The appetite for middleware investments within boardrooms has never been good (Most P&L holders don't understanding why they need glue-ware in the business anyway. They question why software they have already spent $millions on doesn't already share its information.) With the pace of change in global markets for goods and services cycling ever faster, business leaders are far more interested in prioritizing IT investment that delivers more customers to their door and eats away at operational overheads. Making the connection between this outcome and the long road of SOA implementation is no easy challenge for CIOs. 

Neither is there a single technology that can fix every issue that emerges when SOA is deployed. This is because any SOA implementation has to marry the existing systems architecture with the enriching technology components of SOA; the integration ware that builds web services and presents it to integrated development environments that can be used to author new personalized information experiences for staff, customers and partners. 

Delivering the business benefits early into an SOA implementation requires tools that simplify the software development life-cycle and exploit the richer level of data access provided by SOA to deliver returns faster. This is the role that Composite Application Frameworks fulfil. A Composite Application Framework (CAF) is a computing platform used to design and operate applications composed of information gathered from different sources that form a new process or information flow. GartnerGroup recently found 25% of companies were using Web 2.0-style services, and of that group almost half (47%) are conducting some type of enterprise 'mash-up' project. "Because the movement of Web 2.0 technologies into the enterprise is inevitable, IT organizations must take an active role in the strategy and execution of Enterprise Web 2.0 (EW2.0) implementations," Gartner's report stated. 

CAF and SOA are the two complementing components of a strategy to exploit corporate information assets that meets business expectations for rapid delivery of practical information systems that empower information workers to be as productive as they know they can be. Between the two technology genres, IT leaders have the necessary tools to fully exploit their data assets whilst providing an agile computing platform for the enterprise that is able to respond to user and stakeholder demands as they arise. 

encanvas is one example of a Composite Application Framework that offers business analysts an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) - encanvas create - that doesn't require coding skills.   Incorporated in the design interface are baked in applications components that mean authors do not need to go outside of the workspace to create databases or web services, user interface and portals, business logic, geo-spatial applications, charting, visualization and identity management. 

encanvas uniquely provides a bridge between SOA and back-office systems integration and the front-office world of information workers through its 100% adherence to Microsoft® platforms for web, mobile or desktop out-of-the-box. This means that no new proprietary technology platform is being introduced to operational systems. The end result of encanvas deployments is miraculously a Microsoft ASP.NET portal or .NET Framework desktop or mobile application that gathers and shares information with back office systems through SOA with nothing else added. This feat of computer engineering is made possible by the introduction of canvases. A canvas is a self-contained XML-centric data environment that federates data and content from across the enterprise into a visual interface for business users enabling them to find, gather, manage and share information in ways that fit their business needs without coding. 

This new level of integrated development environment means that the life-cycle of a software development can play out across-the-desk in almost real-time with line of business managers who are able to see an immediate benefit from data integration investments in SOA. Case examples evidence that use of a no code Composite Application Framework reduces software project life-cycles by a factor of 5 and all but remove reworking costs that typically represent 25-40% of total software development project costs. 

The combination of this new rapid project life-cycle model facilitated by 'no code' Composite Application Framework software and a Service Oriented Architecture provides the blend of technology and method that IT leaders need to make SOA a hit with business leaders by delivering the jam today. 

Ian Tomlin is a director of NDMC Ltd and author of the book 'Agilization - The Regeneration of Competitiveness'. A regular speaker and presenter on technology matters, he advises major corporations in Europe on new technology trends and market behaviors. 

about encanvas ltd 
we help organizations to exploit their data and formalize information flow. encanvas is composite application software that creates canvases - a self-contained XML-centric data environment that federates data and content from across the enterprise into a visual interface for business users; enabling them to find, gather, manage and share information in ways that fit their business needs - without coding.
organizations seeking a competitive advantage employ encanvas to exploit their Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) to create unique information experiences for their staff, customers and partners.
For more information contact press@encanvas.com or call +44 (0) 1869 255750. www.encanvas.com

encanvas is a trademark of encanvas ltd. All other trademarks and trade names are acknowledged as belonging to their respective owners.

###