Most organisations start down the road to service-oriented architecture (SOA) with a pilot project of some kind. The result is often a great technology learning experience and a handful of useful services upon which a related set of applications can be built and modified easily. But an isolated project seldom builds the skills needed to persuade multiple groups to collaborate on broader SOA development.

This strikes at the heart of the SOA conundrum, as a process that seeks to link services and bridge some long-standing gaps between applications or departments, it often requires more diplomacy than technical investment or prowess.

“That’s the question plaguing the minds of IT executives: how do I get everyone to work together?” says Mike Rhoads, director, rational software, at IBM Software Group Asia-Pacific. “We believe SOA is 1 per cent services and 99 per cent governance. In other words, the technology is the easy part; what’s not so easy is getting people to work together and ensuring that they keep working together.”