The results

The results of the SOA Maturity Assessment mentioned in the previous section were as shown in the following diagram:

The consultancy conducting the maturity assessment identified a number of key challenges as follows:

• The IT department has grown immaturely while trying to constantly react to the demands placed on it by strong retail sales. Consequently, there has been a lack of overall architecture and governance, with IT developments being very tactical in nature. Each business unit within Weir & Bell Telecom has commissioned and developed its own IT systems with little regard for what had already been developed previously.

• Partly due to the lack of architecture and visibility over existing assets, many IT projects have been delivered late and there has been little reuse of existing assets. This has resulted in a poor perception of IT by key business stakeholders.

• Development teams have had little guidance; immature processes and an ill-defined software development lifecycle...