SOA and the confusion

Recently I had an opportunity to talk to some one about SOA. During
this time I asked the person what they understood about SOA and was
quite surprised at the confusing answer. Mind you the person is
question is very bright and has been active in the web services world
for a long time. At that point I thought to myself if such a
knowledgeable person is struggling with the concepts what hope do the
rest of the community have.

We all know there is a general push in the business circles for using
COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) products. Now in an industry where
everyone is using SAP or what ever to run their business, they
invariably are subscribing their business practises to what SAP
Product Managers think. This being the case there would be a general
homogenisation of the sector. How does one company differentiate
itself from another? If IT and COTS become commodity then the opinion
raised by Nicholas Carr "IT doesn't matter"
(http://searchcio.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid19_gci905877,00.html)
becomes valid.

I think there is another evolution coming to the IT market which will
make IT matter which is SOA. Once all my Uni stuff is over I plan to
write on this topic further. I think SOA provides companies's to
retain their edge by using IT as a fabric that weaves complex
applications inside an organisation into a cohesive whole.

More on this later.................. I think I should come off my high
horse now -)