Data Integration and SOA

Many companies are building Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) initiatives apart from data integration projects. Since information is one of the key ingredients to creating business value from SOA initiatives, how could this disconnect be occuring?
A few characteristics of IT projects are causing this application stovepipe to happen.

First, IT has, for decades, continually developed applications or implemented infrastructure on a project-by-project basis. Rather than viewing their enterprise holistically, companies continually look at their projects with a narrow focus. Although this limits scope and maybe improves a project’s chance to be completed, it is shortsighted since too much overlapping or conflicting work occurs.

Second, IT has a tendency to segment its work by the technology that is used rather than what processes are being built. IT assumes that since SOA is “new,” it must be different than all the “mature” data integration software technologies such as ETL, EAI and EII.