Prolifics University kicked off in style with our keynote speaker - Sandy Carter, VP of SOA and WebSphere Marketing at IBM! Sandy's informative presentation on What SOA Can Do For You – Integration and BPM discussed the business drivers leading to SOA as well as the different entry points for SOA projects.

CEOs everywhere recognize the need for change in order to build flexibility and efficiency into their business processes. Did you know that in the US the typical carrot travels 1,600 miles to get from the farm to your plate? That's just one example of how business processes can improve. SOA is the architecture to take you there.

By interweaving customer stories throughout the presentation, Sandy showed us how SOA is moving forward in organizations around the world. Current statistics report that 53% of companies have already started with SOA and 37% will begin SOA projects in the next 1-2 years.

Today's presentation ended with some of the key lessons learned. Choose the right pilot project with senior level sponsorship. Focus on the people and end-to-end business requirements. Don't go it alone! Leverage the lessons learned across the industry. (If you need some guidance, Prolifics and IBM can help.) Spend the time to establish a governance process.

BTW, that last lesson is a great lead-in for tomorrow's session - SOA Governance: People Processes and Projects. Hope to see you then!