First Day of my Tour...At the SOA Executive Forum

First day of the tour today, and I'm in San Francisco at the InfoWorld SOA Executive Forum. I'm doing a SOA and ROI talk at 10:45 this morning. That's going to be an interesting topic for me, just wondering about the interest from the attendees. I'll let you know, and put the talk up as a Podcast.

Some of my initial thoughts are:

Not sure the "manage by magazine" guys care much about ROI now. They are just playing with the technology and following the hype. I don’t think these guys are going to be successful...at least they will be late, and way over budget. That is, if budgets actually exist inside these organizations.

The frugal guys, such as those in verticals like health care, retail, and education, will indeed consider ROI. They always consider ROI for the simple reason that they don't have the spare dollars not to. These guys will win a lot of little battles, and while not leading the way, will get a valid return on their SOA investment…eventually.

The strategy guys are the best guys in this space. They have money and are also thinking strategically about the use of SOA, including considering ROI. Truth-to-told, SOA needs to be lubricated with a lot of cash to get things going, but you should never spend the money without an equal understanding of the benefit. If you have the proper balance, you're SOA will be there, when you need it, and provide the ROI you’re looking for. I hope most of you are here.

Posted by Dave Linthicum on March 16, 2006 08:02 AM