In this Jeitocast, Karen Beaman interviews John Macy, Senior Global Advisor for Jeitosa Group in Asia Pacific and founder of Competitive Edge Technology, on the subject of SOA and services / component architectures. John is also the founder of Human Resource Component Software Application Standard (HR-CSAS) which defines the component structure for Human Resource Management Systems.

As we know, no one system can ever meet all of a customer’s needs, so the issue becomes integration. SOA or Service Oriented Architecture allows what the technologists call a “loose coupling” between components or services. That means it doesn’t really matter what programming language a component is built with and what platform it uses. “In theory, a client can go to the market and find the right mix of products that suits their needs and assemble them into one consolidated system using SOA features.” John talks about how SOA is changing to the way we do business by enabling a modular, Lego-like approach to building systems. The real value of web services and component architectures for HR systems is the ability to easily integrate a diverse mix of products into one consolidated system.

It’s important to stress, however, that care must be taken in the evaluation and selection of SOA products. There are some products on the market, like Dave Duffield’s new Workday product, that are built from the ground-up using native SOA and web technologies. There are many others “posing” as SOA products that are really just SOA “wrappers” around 20- or 30-year old technology. So be sure to look under the covers before making your decision.

Web services and SOA technology is becoming mainstream. Some predictions about SOA indicate that by 2008 80% of new business applications built will use SOA. For those considering the move to an SOA platform, John provides six basic steps to help companies get started on their SOA journey.

 

 What is a component based architecture? [19:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download