Whats the Business Value of SOA? Show It with KPIs

If youre in IT, youre being asked to add more business value than ever. In fact, todays CIOs are being asked to become drivers of the business while at the same time many are trying to replace old and inflexible infrastructures with modern and flexible ones, according to InformationWeeks Analytics 2009 Global CIO Survey. This report adds that across the globe CIOs are fighting the stubborn perception that IT in generaland CIOs and their teams in particularare cost centers rather than creators of value and accelerators of innovation. Does this sound familiar? Whether you already have an SOA in placeor youre just getting started with SOAit is essential to prove business benefits.

Today, measuring cost and revenue impact as well as other SOA metrics is vital to any leading organization. Measuring the value and tracking changes to these metrics are critical as your SOA grows and its portfolio expands. Recent surveys from Forrester Research show organizations are increasingly implementing SOA as a business enabler. Furthermore, recent Gartner research concluded that:

More than 60% of organizations said their SOA projects had a positive impact on their organizations ability to grow revenue; and

SOA projects generated positive returnstypically within 10 months
A proven way to demonstrate an SOAs business value is through Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). KPIs use a language your business colleagues understand: metrics. They give you the means to measure a return on your SOA investment and directly link SOA projects to real business improvements:

What KPIs you can use to start measuring SOA results

How leading organizationsAvnet, Coca-Cola Enterprises and France Telecommeasure how SOA contributes to business success

How Software AG can help you analyze and deliver on your SOA-based KPIs

Software AG, provides a complete solution for SOA Governance, CentraSite, that enables customers to manage their IT assets and measure their business value.

If youre looking for an introduction to SOA, please read our book, SOA Adoption for Dummies.