Capgemini Presses Case for Service Oriented Architecture as a Business Rather Than a Technology Approach at OASIS Conference

Business Wire, May 16, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO -- Capgemini, one of the world's foremost providers of Consulting, Technology and Outsourcing services, continued their campaign for Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) to be recognized not as a series of new technologies but as a change in the way that businesses manage and deliver their IT systems at last week's OASIS symposium. In 2005 Capgemini contributed the first business-centered SOA methodology to OASIS and presented at this year's OASIS symposium on the topic of using SOA to help business and IT interoperate.

"Capgemini's approach to SOA has always been about aligning IT to the business." said Andy Mulholland, Global Chief Technology Officer, Capgemini. "For SOA to actually succeed and deliver value to organizations it must aim to represent the business view, not the technology view."

Capgemini's Steve Jones, CTO for Application Development Transformation, used the OASIS symposium in San Francisco to outline how SOA is about being more about helping business and IT work together than about the technologies currently aligned to SOA. Capgemini firmly believe that for SOA to succeed it must not be another technology buzzword; instead it should be about changing the way IT delivers systems by making those systems aligned to how the business operates.

"The purpose of our presentation was to underline how IT organizations need to change to align to how their businesses operate." said Jones. "Too many IT organizations are current organized for their own benefit rather than truly understanding how they need to adapt to changing business needs. SOA can be an enabler of this change if it is used to properly understand how the business operates and the requirements on IT to deliver this business service architecture."

The presentation outlined the interoperability chasm that currently exists in many organizations between business and IT, with IT focused on individual projects and technologies, while the business looks at the value of whole functions and strategy. The business often fears that SOA is yet another three letter acronym, with new product procurement and large strategic projects from IT that rarely deliver the expected, or sometimes any, business benefit. The presentation detailed how business process and service architectures can be brought together to create a single approach, rather than having two distinct and competitive solutions to the same problem.

"Capgemini's approach to this problem is to view SOA as being about the S and the A, Service and Architecture," said Mark Pettit, Head of Integration at Capgemini. "A properly established Business Service Architecture helps both sides work together to deliver a common view of both business and IT. The Services give context and control to the processes, while the processes explain how the services operate and are consumed. Using Capgemini's Integrated Architecture Framework (IAF) we are able to help our clients use SOA not as a new technology solution but as a way to change both systems delivery and the IT organization that under takes it."

The presentation further outlined how Enterprise Architecture enables organizations to better enable flexibility at the "edge" while retaining control in the centre. A critical factor in this is moving away from monolithic projects towards more flexible Service based programs.

The OASIS Symposium was held in San Francisco from 9-12 May to discuss the Meaning of Interoperability. The Symposium is where OASIS brought together leading experts to share their understanding and experience on how to make e-Government and e-Business work better. For more information on OASIS, go to http://www.oasis-open.org/events/symposium_2006/

About the Capgemini Group

Capgemini, one of the world's foremost providers of Consulting, Technology, and Outsourcing services, has a unique way of working with its clients, which it calls the Collaborative Business Experience. Through commitment of mutual success and the achievement of tangible value, the company helps businesses implement growth strategies, leverage technology and thrive through the power of collaboration. Capgemini employs approximately 60,000 worldwide and reported 2005 global revenues of 6.951 billion euros. More information about individual service lines, offices and research is available at www.capgemini.com.