SOA to Reap Better Profits

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Finally the application design set is coming to mainstream for organisations but selling an SOA solution still needs careful approach and client understanding...

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) deployment is a reality in many industry verticals today. The CIOs, CTOs, and IT managers are convinced about the technology solution, and are adopting it more easily than ever. In fact BFSI and Telecom are the two major verticals that have seen the benefit of deploying the set up.

Talking about the high acceptance rate in these segments, Dhruv Singhal, Sr. Director, Fusion Middleware Sales Consulting, Oracle India, says, SOA is a platform offer multiple benefits to BFSI vertical. Lets take a simple example of SMS Apps in banking environment. The SMS notification can be utilized for multiple applications and its very easy for them to do it. When we do any online merchandising automatically without any delay SMS reaches you updating withdrawal or deposit in your account. This is just an example but the applications can be used in multiple objectives with faster business profits. In fact Oracle has deployed some solutions to customers like I

CICI bank, HDFC, RBI, CitiBank etc. The company is working closely with Wipro and HCL they are the system integrator partners. For Oracle deploying SOA through partners I a the main business model. So besides integration partners, it also has other Tier1 and Tier2 ISP partners to deploy its solutions.

Not just that, when it comes to Telecom, which is a newer customer base, Mr Singhal emphasises, For new operators in Telecom those who dont have any legacy with them, they can utilize SOA for effective business operations. SOA is beneficial when you have more numbers of applications and you cannot afford an infrastructure and complexities to provide services to your customers. In fact he feels that manufacturing is another segment which can benefit from SOA deployment include manufacturing segment. With IT systems taken care of through SOA, businesses in manufacturing industry can actually focus on their core business strength and improve productivity. According to Mr Singhal,

SOA will actually help the businesses in remote management of the sales and business force as well as business.

The Right Focus

As a solution provider you are aware of the benefits a business can garner from SOA deployment, but face the fact that it is not for every business house out there. One thing is that most businesses looking for SOA deployment have excessive expectations, such as immediately achieving quicker project cycles, but users often are not aware of the efforts, resources and time needed to achieve these benefits. Therefore scaling the needs is very important to get returns out of the investment.

In fact an SPs first step to deploying SOA is to do a customer expectation check, and requirement check. Many a time the customer might not even need many modules or certain applications. This will set their need and expectations right. Also losing a prospective customer in the beginning of a project is better than a dissatisfi

ed client in the middle of one. Atul Saini CEO&CTO, Fiorano Software Inc says Sell SOA because the future of systems deployment lies in componentization with the ability to \'snap together\' solutions \'on demand\', thereby reducing overall costs significantly.

Deploying SOA for a client makes sense when customers number of applications is huge and it cannot handle the same, and the client is unable to invest on an infrastructure for it. SOA especially make sense when the clients dont need the service or application continuously or for a long time. You can suggest an SOA set up when the complexities of the existing set up is tough to handle, and multiple channels within the organisation need the same application functionalities.

When deploying an SOA set up, always point out the need of governance of such an architecture for better benefit.

Highlight the Benefits

Many prospective clients may not be convinced but you will

have to show case the benefits of such a system. As an SP you have to be prepared with the right skill sets first to answers every customer query. Readiness is critical and requires partners to possess solid skills, both from an implementation as well as high-level consulting standpoint.  To be effective, partners need to have at least 2 fulltime trained engineers on call at a given time, adds Saini

Start by talking about the flexibility of the architecture, the easy integration of existing application, and improved data integration. Then move on to points like how SOA supports business process management, facilitates enterprise portal initiatives, and speeds up custom application development. To bring out the points on ROI talk of points like improved efficiency in business processes execution, quicker time to market and shorter project cycles, more effective integration with business partners and customer support, streamlined supply chain, and lower cost of maintenance.

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Quick selling tips for partners:

         Increase the level of engagement with your vendors.
       With the help of software vendors like Oracle, partners should develop deep expertise in a specific domain to become specialized players. This will enhance their employees skill sets and also improve their credibility and position in the marketplace.
       Partners along with their vendors can actively participate in joint go-to-market activities based on the individual strength of their product lines, so as to explore new market opportunities like mid-sized companies in tier-II cities where there is need for low cost, easy to use IT solutions.
       Create use cases which demonstrate how SOA will help the end customer easily integrate partners products into their environment

Customer Dos and Donts:

       Start small. Look for common infrastructure services like loggin

g, auditing, notification, security that can be easily adopted across the enterprise.
       Ensure top management backing before attempting enterprise wide rollout.
       Create an SOA Governance body, which will promote and regulate use of SOA services in the enterprise.