The Joy of Flex

CIO magazine's latest has an interesting article on being loosely coupled -- technology and processes that is. Loosely coupled processes have arrived with the maturity of technology; the realization that legacy systems have to co-exist with new systems; and the need for organizations to rapidly change, adapt and integrate -- both internally and externally. This need for flexibility has given rise a slew of technologies and related processes -- mostly under the service-oriented architecture banner -- to integrate disparate systems and processes using standardized interfaces.

So what? Loosely coupled is just another way of explaining SOA. The point the article makes however, is that integrating technology is only the first step -- and it's not where most benefits will arise. Loosely coupled technology will bring flexibility, and its interchangeable nature will drive innovation. More importantly, the loosely coupled philosophy can be extended to business processes -- which underlie the loosely coupled technology and related system processes. The potential for business flexibility and innovation can be astounding. Of course, the ability of a business to adopt loosely coupled business processes is that more difficult than the technology -- as it always is. Business processes have to adopt standard interfaces, which not only require some degree of process standardization, but also trust. When you think of how difficult it is for the many divisions within an organization to march in the same direction and speak the same language, you can imagine how much more difficult it would be to integrate inter-business processes. The promise of flexibility and profit however is one that can't be ignored and will ensure that many will struggle to implement loosely coupled business processes.

The article also has a reference to the authors podcast discussing this topic at IT Conversations. Click the link to listen.