In a recent post I referenced ZDNet SOA blogger Joe McKendrick's comments on how the current economic situation makes SOA even more attractive. My post drew a comment that asked which of SOA's benefits "become especially prominent during economic downturns."
Just after replying to that comment I discovered Joe McKendrick's post from earlier today about Thomas Erl's presentation at the SOA Symposium underway in Amsterdam. McKendrick's post offers another angle on SOA's value when the economy heads south:
The current turmoil in the economy provided a backdrop for the urgency to service-orient and do it right, Thomas, as well as other speakers, emphasized. "I cannot think of a better time for SOA to have matured than now," Thomas Erl pointed out. "The one thing that threatens the survival of business is change...it's a matter of survival that they see stability and the ability to adapt. It all comes down to how your build your services you have an opportunity to do it right." SOA provides the flexibility to make positive change possible as businesses forge through a messy economy.
Change isn't just an election-year political slogan, it's the dominant characteristic of the 21st century global business environment. Businesses have no choice but to evolve amid the ebb and flow of the various factors that affect that environment. SOA and other emerging technologies provide the means to drive that evolution.
Ironically, as SOA and its companion technologies themselves evolve, the pace of change will only increase. Architects involved in getting the enterprise from where it is to where it has to be will be shooting at an always moving target. But anything else would be boring, right?
Read Joe McKendrick's post: SOA, designed for turbulent times | Service-Oriented Architecture | ZDNet.com
