US businesses racing for Service Oriented Architecture in 2006, but UK likely to fall behind, survey reveals
11 November 2005
IT departments in the US are driving their organisations to become service-oriented enterprises amid advances in infrastructure integration technologies, according to the results of a Capgemini survey of more than 300 participants attending the global launch in San Francisco this week of Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005 and BizTalk Server 2006.
Although the survey indicates that only a third (37%) of US enterprises currently use service oriented architecture (SOA) technologies, almost two thirds (64%) plan on using these technologies in the near future, driving towards the creation of service-oriented enterprises. SOA also emerged as the number one driver of corporate IT infrastructure investments in 2006 for more than four in ten (41%) respondents, compared to smaller percentages for business intelligence (38%) and outsourcing (16%).
The results for current SOA utilisation echo those from a recent Capgemini survey of over 200 company IT professionals in the UK, which showed that around a third of UK businesses have adopted the SOA concept. However, comparing the two sets of survey results also suggests that a gulf between SOA deployment in the US and the UK is set to open from next year. In the US, 64% of the companies surveyed plan to utilise the new technology in the near future, but in the UK 58% said they had no such plans.
At the Microsoft launch, respondents identified the most important benefits of Microsoft technology as cost reductions on integration projects (55%), increased return on existing assets (31%), and capability to automate key business processes (10%). Attendees looked to leverage the new Microsoft technologies quickly. In the near future, more than half of respondents plan on upgrading their BizTalk Software (62%) and SQL Servers (55%).
“The Microsoft and Capgemini strategic alliance is driving organisations to become service-oriented enterprises,” remarked Joe Thomas, US vice president for Capgemini. “The service-oriented enterprise (SOE) is the new model for how IT and business work together, and both of our organisations passionately believe that what the Web did for the connectivity of people, SOE will do for businesses.”
Capgemini’s “pulse surveys” at the Microsoft Launch and at Siebel Customer World in the US show that both large and small organisations seek to be service-oriented enterprises. At the Microsoft Launch nearly three in ten respondents (27%) came from organisations with less than $1 billion in revenue, as opposed to only one in ten (10%) at Siebel Customer World. Despite the different demographics, both surveys concluded that more than six in ten of respondents (71% at Siebel Customer World and 64% at the Microsoft Launch) plan on utilising a service-oriented architecture.
“Together, Microsoft and Capgemini push organisations to exhibit the characteristics of true service-oriented enterprises,” said Kevin Poole, vice president for Capgemini. “These organisations become fast, flexible, and responsive. Our combined solutions take complexity away, but leave you in control.”
View the Full Pulse Survey Results
To enable organisations to rapidly gain the benefits of the new Microsoft offerings, Capgemini has developed a new version of its acceleration framework for Microsoft .NET projects. Known as the Capgemini Development and Architectural Framework (CDAF), it comprises a set of tools and techniques for use by Capgemini teams working on client projects involving Microsoft .NET technology.
CDAF enables user organisations to gain two major benefits:
1. Completion of Microsoft .NET projects rapidly, securely and cost-effectively, with productivity gains of typically 30 per cent compared with conventional techniques;
2. Delivery of systems which are highly scalable, flexible, highly performant and easy to maintain, monitor and use.
CDAF was developed by the Microsoft Solution Centre of Capgemini UK. The initial version of CDAF, launched in 2004, has been successfully deployed on projects in the UK financial services, government and transport sectors. The latest version, CDAF 2005, has been specifically configured for use with Microsoft .NET 2.0 and SQL Server 2005.
For more information
Tom Barton
tom.barton@capgemini.com
Tel : +44 870 238 2491
About the Capgemini Group
More information about individual service lines, offices and research is available at http://www.capgemini.com/.
