SOA vendors are trying to figure out how to sell in this emerging marketplace. For most of them, things don't seem to be going very well. At the heart of the issue is the fact that SOA is an architecture (hence the "A"), and not a class of technology. Rather than providing tools to help build a SOA, they are selling products that could be a SOA unto itself. At the same time, the customer is pulling their hair ou SOA vendors are trying to figure out how to sell in this emerging marketplace. For most of them, things don’t seem to be going very well. At the heart of the issue is the fact that SOA is an architecture (hence the “A”), and not a class of technology. Rather than providing tools to help build a SOA, they are selling products that could be a SOA unto itself. At the same time, the customer is pulling their hair out in total confusion. To that end, here are 5 things that all SOA vendors should know at this point if they plan to be successful in this emerging marketplace. Just my 2 cents. 1. Make sure your product works. Sounds like a simple thing, but many SOA vendors do not properly develop and test their products, and thus many SOA products fail when they are put into production, or even during proof-of-concept testing. At issue is the fact that, with the sense of urgency around the emerging market, many vendors push their products out the door too quickly. Thus, the products are “buggy,” the customers discover that quickly, and your name is “mud.” Your reputation takes a hit, and you lose the deal as well. 2. Make sure you know what SOA is. This also sounds like a simple thing, but the fact of the matter is, most of those who sell SOA technology don’t understand the first thing about SOA. They typically play “buzzword bingo,” reciting terms such as “agility,” “reuse,” “loosely coupled,” etc., and all the while they do not understand anything about their customers’ issues, and perhaps not even about the content they provide. 3. Get wise about the approach to SOA. Building on number 2, once you understand SOA and how your product fits, it’s time to figure out how you and your customer should approach SOA. SOA is a complex distributed architecture, leveraging many of the traditional enterprise architecture concepts, but with some new angles, frameworks, and approaches. In essence, SOA is an architectural pattern. You need to understand how to educate and explain this to your customer. In many instances, your customer will rely upon you to be the SOA expert, or at least the SOA educator. 4. Don’t sell yourself as “one stop SOA shopping.” A typical issue with SOA vendors is that they view themselves as a “SOA-in-a-box” solution. In reality, nobody is a one-stop SOA shop. SOA is an architecture. Thus, you can’t sell an architecture, just the technology that makes up certain components of the architecture. So, those SOA vendors that fess up to that now will find that they have a much more creditable position with the customer versus overselling the product and not having it live up to expectations. 5. Consider the future. Architectures are journeys, not projects, and SOA is no exception. Thus, you need to think long term when you work with a customer and a customer’s architecture. That means inserting yourself at key points in the process, even after technology selection, such as working directly with any committees that exist around the architecture, user groups, and even working with your customers as they increase their knowledge of SOA, and thus your product. Software Development