SOA and its effects on Business Risk

SOA is a Big Thing - it transforms the business, it is a key strategic initiative, it aligns IT more closely with business goals, etc.  But this brings up an important issue for executives. How does SOA affect the business risk picture? Does it drive additional risks? Does it provide any mitigation?

Lustratus has just published a new paper, "The Impact of SOA on Business Risk", that looks at this subject in more detail. The paper does not try to come up with a definitive answer, but instead considers the strategic, compliance, financial and operational areas of business risk and comes up with a grid of effects generated by SOA adoption, providing a framework against which companies can carry out their own risk assessments.

I believe this is an important area for companies to be aware of, with little guidance available. Bearing this in mind, Lustratus has decided to make the paper available at no charge. But for those people who cannot take the time to read the whole paper, the broad conclusion is that although there are areas where SOA drives risk, on balance it mitigates considerably more risk than it drives, and on top of this the new exposures are largely manageable.

Steve