Does the road to SOA lead through BPM?

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February 29, 2008

Does the road to SOA lead through BPM?

Does the road to SOA lead through BPM [business process management]?

Yes, says Kaushal Mashruwala, writing in Financial Express.

Kaushal relates a recent Forrester Research Survey that found 38% of companies with more than 1,000 employees are not using SOA and have no plans to do so. Of the companies that are using SOA in some form or fashion, 40% haven’t begun or are using SOA with no clear strategy in place. "The 80/20 rules seem to imply that 80% of people don’t and won’t get SOA in the organization," he says.

The bottom line is that business leaders don't really care about SOA all that much, but do care very much about BPM. So, if you're an SOA advocate, why not give them what they want?

BPM, when fused with SOA, give business managers more power to change, through technology, the way their businesses are run, Kaushal observes. “The management philosophy of BPM empowers business people to think about the processes that affect their day-to-day lives and operations. It gives them a new role in defining requirements, on their terms, and creates a common language for business and IT to address real implementation level concerns. This role of BPM as the business face of SOA is not just a possibility. It’s happening now.”

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Posted by joemckendrick in Business Process Management • SOA | Digg This | Add to del.icio.us