SOA filling the Gaps

The first question to ask is do you really need a SOA Consultant? In most cases the answer is yes. The consultant has vast knowledge and experience and deeper understanding. An Aberdeen Group survey finding supports the conclusion above. Consultants participate in Best in Class (BIC) enterprises SOA initiatives more than in average enterprises. Laggards SOA initiatives include consultants even less often than average enterprises initiatives. The next question to ask is: What kind of SOA Consultant should you hire?   I read a relatively old but interesting ZapFlash   written by ZapThink 's Jason Bloomberg in 2008. The ZapFlash titled: The Great SOA Consultant Squeeze discusses this issue. The ZapFlash describes a scenario of Request for Proposal (RFP) send to three consulting firms: a large, internationally known firm, a midsize firm with a well-regarded technical focus, and a boutique SOA firm that focuses solely on SOA engagements. Surprisingly, the large firm...

IT implementations Complexity is growing consistently. The reasons for the growing complexity includes: additional types of functionality (e.g. BPM , Internal Social Networks as part of Enterprise 2.0 implementations etc.), Infrastructure heterogeneity, enhanced collaboration ( Social Networks , Instant Messaging , Contact Centers etc.), Usage of Web and Multi-Channel e.g. enhanced Cell Phones applications usage) and implementations beyond enterprise boundaries (e.g. Cloud Computing , Supply Chain Management) . The issue of complexity is described schematically in the illustration above. The idea is to reduce complexity and in the same time support growing heterogeneity and functionality. Abstractions are used frequently for hiding the complexity. For example SOA hides from Business users the technical details of service implementation; Virtualization hides the physical hardware configuration used by the Operating System instances. Load Balancing complexity is growing the same...