SOA and innovation

I finally understand what service-oriented architecture (SOA) means! Basically, it's the breaking down of specific business processes into smaller tools, processes, or functions that can then be applied to a whole variety of new business processes. I think I was a little intimidated by the long name (service-oriented architecture), but the LEGO analogy really worked for me.

I think the comparison of SOA with the internet seems to be a bit of a stretch. I can see how SOA will make a major impact on business and the ease and flexibility with which we do business. Maybe I'm naive, but it doesn't seem to me to have the potential of the internet to fundamentally revolutionize the way that business is done. The article gives the example that every business has a website, which seems fair and largely true to me. However, I don't think that idea can be transferred to SOAs. There are a lot of businesses and industries whose processes are not so sophisticated as to ever need SOA. Small businesses that certainly need email and a web presence to communicate with their customers couldn't justify SOA for the kind of work they do. It seems like SOA's impact will be considerable but will come mostly in incremental changes.

Even so, SOA definitely represents innovation - using technology to apply processes from one function to another, one business to another, one industry to another.