This week in links - week 13, 2008

"Networked economies require Services not Processes" by Steve Jones:

"Back in the 80s the "Value Chain" was key, this was the series of steps and links that it took to deliver the value. Now the Value Chain really suited a process mentality. It was a pretty linear thing, everyone did their own bits in it and handed on from one place to another...//...process made sense in this world, A was followed by B which followed C etc etc. People mapped out simple processes and it just seemed to make sense.

The problem was, and most assuredly is, that Systems Theory was making itself more and more known in the business world. This is where collaboration becomes more about units (services in SOA terms) working together in complex networks than simply a chain which hands over responsibility. This led to the Value Network approach that business schools started pushing out in the late 90s.

The current, and next, generation of businesses are about complex collaborations to deliver value, not simply about following a process. This collaboration approach requires a business service approach and a focus on interactions, objectives and KPIs. Its a much harder environment to be working in than simple Value Chains but the potential rewards, and dangers, are
much more significant."

Here are some excerpts from the post "The best way to sell SOA? Try Web 2.0 techniques" by Joe McKendrick about the convergence of SOA and Web 2.0:

"Web 2.0 addresses the same problems SOA is addressing...Enabling users to easily compose services that make calls to back-end systems will go a long way to helping businesses see the value in SOA"

"Web 2.0 and SOA also have different philosophies...SOA is about empowering the enterprise, and Web 2.0 is about empowering the individual...we want the user to become increasingly more familiar with in the broad Internet, and bring that experience into the enterprise...At the same time, allowing the enterprise to free up its assets, and empower the business user.”

"IT Execs Want More-Effective Collaboration" from PR-USA.net:

"The study, commissioned by Novell, surveyed 100 senior IT executives on their experiences with and plans for collaboration software. A full 80 percent said it is of critical or high importance that individuals in their companies have the ability to collaborate securely within and beyond organizational boundaries, but fewer than half said their current collaboration solutions are extremely or very effective in enabling collaboration among individual knowledge workers or among teams and virtual teams."

"'Providing employees with collaboration tools that enable them to work together effectively, no matter where they may be located, is no longer a wish-list or nice-to-have item – it’s a requirement,' said Kent Erickson, senior vice president and general manager of Workgroup Solutions for Novell. 'But it’s a requirement that is not being adequately addressed for most organizations."