Despite recent opining by some industry skeptics that Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is dead, many enterprises are indeed moving towards such a model – and realizing tangible benefits from their efforts. Info-Tech's study of the evolving SOA landscape and ongoing conversations with early adopters has revealed several common themes and key points of guidance. This research note explores the following topics:

• Recognizing SOA as a business opportunity.
• Supplementing internal skills with external guidance.
• Avoiding the lure of SOA as a technology purchase.
• Progressing to a SOA with a project-by-project approach.
• Emphasizing service quality over service quantity.

To help mitigate risks, IT leaders engaged in planning enterprise SOA initiatives should draw from the experiences of SOA veterans and internalize key lessons from the field.