Here's an excerpt from a very interesting article on CIO update titled "Finding the value in SOA" by Stephen Bennett of Oracle

"Because of this, SOA must not be seen as a solution development approach that starts and ends once a solution is delivered. It must be seen as an on-going process that, when coupled with a strategic framework, can change and evolve with the business over time. Unfortunately, many enterprises adopt SOA without utilizing a strategic framework, causing a host of challenges for their business.

Just a few of the challenges I have seen include:

• More complexity and moving parts


• Increased costs


• Projects taking longer than before


• Solutions more fragile than ever


• Little or no agility


• Difficulty identifying and discovering services


• Exponentially growing governance challenges


• Limited service re-use


• Duplication of effort leading to service sprawl


• Multiple siloed technology focused SOAs


• Funding for service oriented projects being cut"