Companies are expected to significantly increase investments in service oriented architecture (SOA)-based services throughout the rest of 2006.
This according to an IDC study SOA-Based Services Buying Trends: A 2006 Survey of U.S. Companies released yesterday. The study, which analyzes the results of an IDC end-user survey of U.S.-based companies, reveals the majority of respondents rated SOA as important to their overall IT and business strategy, and further indicated that they are planning to purchase SOA-related services by the end of 2006.
IDC cites a significant opportunity for service vendors to assist companies in implementing SOA, and believes vendors must continue their education efforts, provide guidelines, and demonstrate business benefits to reach the majority of potential SOA users.
When considering assistance from an external service provider, the survey finds the companies planning to adopt SOA are most likely to turn to a large technology vendor, consulting firm, or systems integrator, and to some extent a traditional outsourcer.
IDC said end users are more likely to turn to these large and established service vendors as they are unwilling to take a risk with a less-known services player when embarking on a new technology venture.
In terms of the types of services both current and future SOA adopters are planning to acquire, respondents claimed their companies will procure a wide range of services including consulting, implementation, training/education, application development, application management/outsourcing, and support.
Although consulting services continued to be on top of the list, additional types of services are also expected to be in strong demand by SOA adopters. In addition, the study reveals that the IT department is the primary decision maker for purchasing SOA-related services.
Methodology
The study presents the results from an IDC survey consisting of more than 400 end-users from a broad spectrum of U.S.-based companies.