Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is destined to be one of the defining IT paradigms of the next decade. It promises the delivery of IT services in a loosely-coupled way that is more flexible and better aligned with business needs than previous architectures. SOA is an architectural style, not a technology, which allows the creation and maintenance of an IT architecture that supports business services and business processes, and also rapidly adapts to the changes within them.

The adoption of SOA has significant potential to improve the value organisations derive from their IT investments, in terms of increased flexibility, improved use of assets, alignment with business objectives, and reduced integration costs. However, there is still a considerable degree of hype and misunderstanding around the topic, with consequent confusion as to the exact definition of a SOA, and more importantly, how to begin to realise these benefits.