'Content Returning to basics, SOA is a type of architecture. Using this architecture, it is possible to build many types of system that can deliver benefits, but it is the way the architecture is used that provides these benefits rather than the architecture itself.

SOA permits projects to deliver benefits due to the characteristics that the architectural style possesses. The primary characteristic of SOA that influences the types of benefit that can be delivered is that it enables and encourages the reuse of business logic. In order to deliver value from an investment in SOA, the organization must also use innovation to deploy projects that will exploit these new capabilities.

As has been pointed out many times, we have been reusing business logic in different ways for several decades, but this has been despite the IT architectural styles deployed, rather than because of them. SOA, when well implemented, makes reusability extremely cost-effective. Although every organization will have a legacy that is unique, and some of these will be more difficult than others to enable as a set of technology-independent services, it is demonstrably achievable.