Succeeding in the Services-based Evolution. Ten Challenges CIOs Must Address to Realize High Performance with Service-oriented Architecture

Service-oriented architecture allows CIOs to take full advantage of the potential of IT to enable high performance across organizations. To this end, Accenture outlines 10 challenges that CIOs should address in order to implement service-oriented architecture comprehensively and successfully.

Service-oriented architecture may provide CIOs with their best opportunity yet to maximize the contribution of IT in the organization's journey toward high performance.

Today's CIOs face unrelenting pressure to ensure that IT investments meet their organization's strategic and operational requirements. Client/server implementations, Internet-centric applications and major enterprise resource planning deployments have all been used in the past to meet this challenge—but service-oriented architecture looks like the most promising approach for tapping the potential of IT to improve business performance and achieve competitive differentiation.

Service-oriented architecture allows organizations to enable business strategy with flexible processes that allow new applications and product offerings to be launched quickly and efficiently.

To create an IT strategy that maximizes the benefits of a service-oriented architecture approach, Accenture has identified 10 primary areas that CIOs may need to address to achieve high performance:

• Platform competency and capability.
• Application portfolio rationalization.
• Architectural standards and interoperability.
• Data architecture.
• Infrastructure and operations.
• IT organization and governance of enterprise architecture.
• Methods and tools.
• Testing and quality assurance.
• Security.
• Training.

Accenture can help organizations implement service-oriented architectures successfully, thus enabling them to respond effectively to change and enjoy the sustained success that is a hallmark of high performance.

Recognized by IT industry analysts as a leader in this space, Accenture focuses on value creation and harnesses deep industry, business and technology know-how—including a growing body of best-in-class processes, methods and tools. These include industry-specific offerings and Accenture Delivery Methods and Tools.

Find out what industry analysts are saying about Accenture's capabilities in service-oriented architecture.