Take It With You
Retailers need an IT architecture that is flexible and resilient and can quickly and cost-effectively deploy very specific process solutions. That is why astute retailers are now evaluating and deploying SOA capabilities. SOA is a business- and process-driven approach to delivering IT capabilities using common services to perform basic business functions. In an SOA, software modules deliver the services needed to meet specific business needs. Those flexible services can be developed by, and interchanged among, various vendors – and then integrated and shared across business units and environments. Retailers can leverage this approach to simplify maintenance and drive reuse, all while reducing both the cost and complexity of achieving specific process requirements.
In this viewpoint paper, HP describes a process-oriented, opportunity-driven approach to the implementation of SOA in the retail environment. This phased, results-oriented approach allows companies to create services that respond flexibly to changes in consumer demand, product design and supply-chain operations. This approach encourages companies to start small, to generate efficiencies and revenues from specific process improvements, and then to extend the shared benefits of SOA as new opportunities arise.
