During a Microsoft software-oriented architecture (SOA) user conference analyst firm Gartner advised businesses to increase their focus on penetrating the SOA market in order to remain competitive in the market.

Gartner analyst Mark Raskino, said that traditionally business process management (BPM) strategies were deployed to enable more IT productivity, but now they are needed to enable business flexibility.

Priorities for business leaders should include making acquisitions and tracking growth in emerging markets, Raskino said. And for executives to take advantage of market opportunities business functions and processes need to be adapted quickly, he added.