Enterprise SOA
Ian Bailey
Maybe a better way to figure out which provider is best is to let them fight it out ? If two providers offer sufficiently similar services why not make them both conform to the same service interface ? They would then compete on a level playing field – the consumer wouldn’t know who or what was providing the service, they’d only know the quality of service and price. Over time, a free market would emerge, and the poorer service providers would “wither” on the ESB grapevine.
It would take time, and you’d have to have multiple implementations of the same service (though really they’re just wrappers around existing functions). However, it would provide impetus to the providers to improve their efficiency – especially if their day-to-day income is based on the number of users of their service. It also means that the inefficient providers will quickly become extinct. I’m prepared to bet that in a very large organisation, these benefits would outweigh the additional service design, governance and implementation costs.
This all sounds a bit Adam Smith, and one of the problems with Smith’s free-market approach is that it assumes a rational investor. As we know from the history of stock exchanges, investors are more likely to flock like lemmings than hunt like eagles. So how do we ensure our service consumers behave rationally ? By not giving them any choice, that’s how.
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