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"SOA comes from the way we think about, implement, and use those systems," Dees explains. "If you think of each system as offering a service to the others, then you can implement the right transactions in each of them and then build interfaces to them that gather key information they produce. An example: ERP provides the service of planning and accounting for the actions we take to produce our products, our Demand forecasting system offers the service of producing a forecast for our product portfolio, and PLM offers the service of managing what products are in our portfolio. With that, you can, through a SOA, bring together that information in a meaningful and cohesive way."
Dees says he's considered buying an "uber" system that does it all but found that these systems attempt to do too much and don't meet the specific needs of the business.
"With a good SOA in place, you have the flexibility to source and implement a smaller system that better supports your business needs and still exploit the benefits of the cohesion offered by the 'uber' system," he says.
Another huge benefit, he adds, is that if you build your SOA correctly, you also isolate the disruption if you change out one of the smaller systems. As long as the new system can meet the interfaces previously required, the change is isolated to only a small piece of your infrastructure.
"SOA is almost required because we have such an eclectic culture," Dees says. "We like flexibility to accomplish things differently at different offices. SOA helps us keep our culture."
Today a poster-sized version of the "MIS Vision" chart hangs in the office of CEO Metcalf, looking somewhat out of place amid black-and-white photos of soaring, ice-clad mountains.
"IT had to become a bigger part of the business," says Metcalf, as a small dog runs around his office. "We're 100% banking on IT. There are light-years of gains to be made. We can do so much better."
Yet even as BD matures, the company's essential DNA remains unchanged. At 3 p.m. a cry goes out in the IT department: "Is it climbing time?"
It is. Half an hour later, two members of the IT staff and a visitor are putting on BD harnesses and tying into a rope in Little Cottonwood Canyon.
Michael Ybarra is a contributing writer for SearchCIO-Midmarket.com. Write to him at editor@ciodecisions.com.
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