Benefits of a tech acronym spelt out
Service oriented architecture (SOA) is the latest three letter acronym that promises to put technology where it belongs - in the hands of business managers.
Included with this FIP (Financial Information Package) is a SAS (Stand-Alone Supplement) on BI (Business Intelligence). On page 16 of the SAS is an ESM (Enterprise Software Map), which, with any luck, will help you finally understand what the seemingly endless list of technology TLAs (three letter acronyms) actually mean. And, more to the point, what they do.
Maybe I’m just a COH (Cynical Old Hack), but it seems as though the business software industry invents a new TLA with each point release of its software to try and convince people to spend more money.
In reality, we can hardly blame them – every product needs a sales story. But the problem occurs when we start to overlook really innovative and promising technology because it sounds pretty much exactly the same as all the rest. And, because a lot of NCDs (Number Crunching Directors – that’s you, by the way) have had their fingers burned by signing off rather large cheques for fancy-sounding technology in the past.
Perhaps the best approach is to look at SOA as a philosophy rather than a technology (bear with me here). It has two central objectives. First, to shift the balance of IT away from the technology to the business need. And second, to allow companies to reuse functionality that has been created to solve a local problem throughout the enterprise.
Eventually, this recycling of functionality can be extended throughout vertical sectors and, theoretically, throughout the business world leading to savings of truly epic proportions.
The Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (or OASIS – I swear they come up with the acronym first and then invent the name to fit around it) has this to say about SOA: “The central focus of SOA is the task or business function – getting something done,” which must be music to non-technical ears.
Talking to Phil Lee, finance director of Britannia Building Society, earlier this year, conversation got onto the company’s recent acquisition of Bristol & West. Lee is still working on the data integration issues following the merger nine months after the acquisition. “Not the least bit compatible,” is how he described the two building societies’ systems. In theory, if the acquisition had taken place in a couple of decade’s time, and had SOA been ubiquitous throughout both organisations, the data integration process would have been seamless, taken a fraction of the time and saved a fortune.
And there lies the philosophy behind SOA – that technology should not be seen as an end in its own right, but as a means to reach a business goal. The only way to do that is for all techies to design their systems around a formula that will allow them to interact. OASIS uses an electric utility as an example of the philosophy behind SOA. The utility provides the electricity, but anyone can use that electricity if they have the right ‘interface’ (that’s a plug to you and me).
But it’s certainly worth thinking about and maybe even popping your head around the CIO’s door for a chat. Because of all the TLAs currently in circulation, SOA really does have the potential to redefine how technology is utilised. It will put the power of technology back into the hands of business managers and at the same time lead to significant cost savings. And who wouldn’t want a slice of that? Perhaps you should retire to the BRS (beer refueling station) to think about it.
David Rae is deputy editor of Financial Director