SANTA CRUZ, CA - November 3, 2008 - Determining the Return on Investment for a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) project is the greatest challenge facing developers working on SOA programs, according to the most recent Evans Data Corp survey of developers actively developing SOA or Web Services applications. Almost one in five cited ROI as the most challenging aspect, more than identifying available Web Services, testing and validation, or absorbing the expense.

"IT managers and professionals face the conundrum that true ROI of SOA-based projects is beyond the reach of IT and must be a shared responsibility with the business at large,” said John Andrews, President and CEO of Evans Data Corp. “Many of the early stage SOA projects delivered tactical IT cost savings but the real strategic ROI results from providing greater business agility through improved business processes resulting in cost consolidation or revenue generation or both."

The survey, conducted in September and October, was restricted to developers working with SOA or Web Services and has a margin of error of plus or minus five percent. Other findings from the survey include:

• Sixty percent of companies outsource at least some of their SOA work to outside third parties, though only 10 percent outsource more than half of it.
• Those using Java for SOA projects are more likely to be creating applications for outside clients, while those using .Net tend more to be internal developers
• Microsoft and IBM are the two companies that command developers attention when it comes to SOA and Web Services

Complete TOC and sample pages can be seen here - http://www.evansdata.com/reports/viewRelease.php?reportID=24

Evans Data Corporation provides regularly updated IT industry market intelligence based on in-depth surveys of the global developer population. Evans' syndicated research includes surveys focused on developers in a wide variety of subjects.

Copyright 2008 Evans Data Corporation. All other company names, products and services mentioned in this document are the trademarks and property of their respective owners.

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