Is the Growth of SaaS Making SOA Irrelevant?

A few years ago, Gartner predicted that by 2011, 25% of business software will be delivered via Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). While we have yet to see what impact the worldwide economic recession will have on that timeframe, one thing remains true – for mid-market companies taking an enterprise-wide approach to their business operations, SaaS will be an important delivery model. With such momentum in the SaaS market, has service-oriented architecture (SOA) technology become obsolete, or will it?

Imagine you are a mid-market manufacturing company with an on-premise ERP solution and the desire to expand your software investment to include solutions for customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise asset management (EAM). Rather than host the solutions on-premise, you decide to take advantage of SaaS offerings for their uptime, data backups, escrow and more. But you are not fully capitalizing on the benefits of the software if the CRM, EAM and ERP solutions each operate in a vacuum.

There are different goals for SOA, below some fundamental ones:

• The adoption of a new architectural style where business functions operate independently, are flexible and can be deployed/upgraded without disruption
• The introduction of a business management platform where aggregated information for reporting, business intelligence and decisions can be done
• Centrally defined business processes with execution and monitoring reflecting the deployment model (On-Premise vs. SaaS)
• Interoperability of solutions throughout the supply chain

Without SOA, each of your new applications would continue to deliver their primary function but you have some issues to address:

• How do you monitor orders that are received and fulfilled?
• Can you send sales orders from your SaaS solution to your ERP and get an acknowledgement with the status of the order (Cloud-To-Enterprise interoperability)?
• Does your equipment maintenance schedule interfere with important production needs?
• How do you manage information for reporting and decisions?
• How do you manage your supply chain going through different SaaS solutions (Cloud-To-Cloud interoperability)?

With SOA, you have the answer to each of those questions. Your CRM and EAM solutions feed information into your ERP, and that system kicks necessary information back. For example, when you take an order into the CRM, the ERP lets you know how much inventory is on hand, or if production must increase to meet demand. Further, if your EAM system wants to shut down assembly machines for routine maintenance, but a large, rush order comes through, your ERP can trigger an alert to hold off on the maintenance so that customer service isn’t compromised. An integrated system provides the reporting and analytics that lets you make well-informed decisions quickly and efficiently, greatly enhancing your business.

So, the truth is that SaaS is not making SOA irrelevant, it is instead making SOA critical. Mid-market companies can make great gains with new capabilities and functionality from extended software deployment – either on-premise or SaaS. However, without the integrated, enterprise-wide approach that SOA delivers, profits and productivity gains will be left on the table – and who can afford that?

Posted by Massimo Capoccia, Director, Product Management Technology

A Better Way: Why I Joined the InforNation

Fresh starts often give us the opportunity to take a look back. As I recently made the decision to join Infor as its CMO, I reflected on my 30 plus years in the technology industry. Although I've only got a few gray hairs to go along with the experience, I really have seen my share of products and companies come and go.  In many ways, this business is the same today as when I started my first gig selling big iron at Burroughs. The purpose of technology is to make our customers’ world better. Easier. More productive. More profitable. 

I find it ironic that while the aim of business software is to make you more efficient, streamline processes and improve your bottom line, doing business with most software companies is slow, disruptive and expensive. Somewhere along the line, these big software companies shifted their focus from the customer to themselves. They became bloated, arrogant and very frustrating to do business with.

Customers today are looking for a better choice. An alternative from the Big ERP guys who talk at their customers instead of really listening. We are that alternative.

Infor has never been a conventional software company – nor will we ever be. We think that is a good thing, and our customers tell us it is. By thinking differently and listening to our customers’ needs, we are on an active journey to offer a better choice and change what people expect from a business software company.

Many have already joined us in our challenge to Big ERP. As part of the InforNation you are in charge of your own software destiny. You choose the software and determine the timeline – from the initial implementation to every additional product add-on and upgrade. You decide what makes the most business sense for your company – every day and every step of the way.  Because we understand it’s not about us but about you, your business and your goals. Our role is to support you throughout the life of your software investment. To make your world better.

It’s an exciting time to be in our industry, and it’s an exciting time to join this great team that puts the voice of the customer first in everything we do. Isn’t it time we turned Big ERP on its head?

Posted By Robert Humphrey, Senior Vice President and CMO