Many companies are building Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) initiatives apart from data integration projects. Since information is one of the key ingredients to creating business value from SOA initiatives, how could this disconnect be occuring?

A few characteristics of IT projects are causing this application stovepipe to happen.

First, IT has, for decades, continually developed applications or implemented infrastructure on a project-by-project basis. Rather than viewing their enterprise holistically, companies continually look at their projects with a narrow focus. Although this limits scope and maybe improves a project’s chance to be completed, it is shortsighted since too much overlapping or conflicting work occurs.

Second, IT has a tendency to segment its work by the technology that is used rather than what processes are being built. IT assumes that since SOA is “new,” it must be different than all the “mature” data integration software technologies such as ETL, EAI and EII.

Finally, companies keep looking for the “silver bullet” of technology to solve all their data problems. Why work on an overall data integration approach when SOA solves it all with no mess or fuss? If only you could buy data integration in a can!

What should companies do?

• Establish an Integration Competency Center (ICC) that has responsibility for an enterprise architecture

• Develop an overall data or information integration architecture

• Implement the data integration architecture using SOA along with ETL, EAI, EII and data quality software

SOA can provide tremendous business benefits if driven by implementing a data integration architecture that provides business people with the information they need for running and managing the business.

But if SOA is driven solely as an infrastructure or technology initiative do not be surprised if the business group questions its value and pulls funding when they don’t see an ROI.