I’m calling it a story since it is yet to happen…more ambitious word for this will be ‘vision’. But given that ‘SOA’ and ‘vision’ have been beaten to death in last couple of years so let me continue with the story only. Key word in the title really is not the ‘story’ though..it is the ‘main-stream’ and soon you will see why. One of things in SOA that make me sick is the ‘real-ness’ of it (or rather lack of it). I personally feel that SOA as a concept is running out of steam to remain in the ‘hot seat’. There isn’t much new or different coming out from it than what has been spoken about thousands time already in difference styles and with different jargons. For that matter, I think ERP as a concept has done far better where in journey from speculative vision to physical realization (what so ever it has been, that really doesn’t matter) has been rather fast and it did change the shape of the industry to large extent. With SOA, industry seem to going on and on and on but like everything else, SOA will run out of the fuel sooner or later. If industry doesn’t something new in SOA which is the next level of life with SOA, it will not sustain. Skeptics are already ignoring it, even believers might drop the ball after a while. So what do we envision beyond this?
I think BPM is going to be a great savior for us. What I see happening is very sensible and natural in my view. SOA hype will diminish, BPM hype will gain strength. Though SOA hype today is far louder and taller than BPM but on the ground for sure BPM implementations are more real. When BPM will catch the steam, SOA will get a place where it really belongs to – a service enabling framework for BPM..:-)…so in that scenario, SOA will be a de-facto architectural construct in terms of standard architectural policies and design styles that will be utilized to make enterprise BPM happen. Given that BPM is really much closer to the business (closer than what SOA claims to be or could ever afford to be), it will be truly drive the change in the business solution designs. And when doing so, it will be able to leverage the appropriate stack of SOA enabled technology including EAI and B2B. That’s what will bring SOA in the mainstream. SOA will become the DNA of the Enterprise Architecture layers and will not need to be called out separately.
What it really means that our reference architecture of enterprise business automation will be truly complete where BPM will be in the driving seat and SOA will be the magic behind the machinery operating underneath. Today, BPM, SOA, EAI, B2B etc. all are reasonably fragmented and are trying to create the big picture for the enterprise in their small world..(what a contrast!)…in my story, this big pictures of the small worlds will slowly dissolve and the true big picture will emerge where all small words exist in integrated manner, in the place where they belong. And naturally, BPM will have the business impact measurements as the KPIs which will percolate into all layers beneath, be it SOA or ESB or EAI or B2B.
In my assessment, this has started happening already in pockets and it may not take more than another 2-3 years before it comes true in grand way.
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