Preparing for web services - what you should be doing

Forget, for a moment, the end user scenarios. Put aside the vendor claims. The momentum behind web services is growing but what should user organisations be doing now? Sonya Rabbitte asks leading analysts to be prescriptive...

Web services - it's a buzzword that's hard to ignore, and with good reason. This publication, for one, thinks they will revolutionise how we work - how we interact with each other, with companies, with websites and beyond. A world of seamlessly connected applications awaits, we are told, even if it's a bit hazy right now.

But what exactly are we talking about here? And what do they mean for the average person on the street or, especially, the CIO at the board table?

On the simplest level web services is about building on a series of protocols that provide an environment for disparate technologies to interoperate. So that ERP system which wouldn't speak with your CRM system, which just won't connect with the payroll, soon will. Or at least that's the theory.

Sounds great but how do you make it happen? Fully integrated web services are still anywhere between five and ten years away - depending on which analyst house you listen to. And before we reach that milestone there's a myriad of new technologies, new investment and new strategies to implement, spend and develop.

But don't let that put you off, say the experts. We asked five top analysts what users should be doing to gear up for web services. Here's what they recommend:

Ashim Pal, VP Web and Collaboration, Meta Group

"Make sure you really understand what it's about. People are making .Net and Java decisions from a religious perspective rather than really understanding it. Then use web services on smallish projects to get your feet wet. The sort of projects people should look at is low volume data with low performance expectations."

James Governor, analyst, Illuminata

"It's all about education. Look at downloads from the web. Vendors will be tripping over themselves to provide free help. There's a lot of good information out there and users should get it before making vendor commitments. But don't even worry about UDDI - if companies are using SOAP or WSDL they're on their way to using web services."

Alan Lawson, research analyst, Butler Group

"People shouldn't be doing more than prototyping. They need to evaluate trial runs on an internal basis. The basics of making it work are as essential inside as outside the firewall. Security will be a big issue."

Randall Heffner, VP Application Architecture, Giga Group

"Have a realistic perception: look at each area where you would like to use applications across boundaries - such as technology boundaries or departmental boundaries - except that the technology won't cooperate. Be sure to look at full security needs and look carefully at the business value of any spend."

Steve Barrie, chief analyst, Bloor research

"At the moment businesses should just be using web services to get all departments in their business working together. That might require businesses to develop a web services technology "wrapper" around their existing systems but way into the future that should become easier as business applications become web services-enabled."

There you have it. The key seems to be to start small and simple, look at internal requirements first and don't spend too much initially.

Remember web services are still in the fledging stage. Most users are still working out how XML, the vendor offerings and all those four-letter acronyms piece together. Making long-term, strategic decisions can feel unwise - but it's a decision nearly every sophisticated user of IT will have to make at some time.

Overall, understand the technology and take vendor hype with a pinch of salt, even though this is one of those big moments in the evolution of technology.