Technology only proves its worth in business it if helps an organization realize the successful achievement of its strategic objectives. The justification of technology as a key business driver is drawing renewed attention as executives consider the potential for Service Oriented Architecture(SOA) in their organizations.

While an SOA can go far in addressing the important security, reliability, and re-usability of services, SOA is nonetheless a technical approach. Thus, the challenge of SOA—and the key to achieving business value—is elevating service enablement beyond just technology functions. The reality is that a SOA has limited value unless it encompasses disparate applications and platforms, and most importantly, it moves beyond technology and is orchestrated and controlled in the context of business processes.

SOA technology and methods provide a foundation for service enablement in an orderly fashion and allow an organization to avoid the pitfalls of deploying an uncontrolled maze of services. But from the outset, organizations face the challenge of where to start: what services are going to add immediate value, and how are they going to be used by the most important business functions? Identifying the services that are consumed by the most critical business processes in an organization can be a daunting proposition.