Preface

“The irony is that most disruptions create a net growth in the economy. By nature, disruptive innovations start new markets and attract new customers.”

— Clark Gilbert & Joseph L. Bower, “Disruptive Change,” Harvard Business Review, May 2002

WHO DARES WINS

The phrase “ Who Dares Wins” is the motto of the Special Air Services (SAS), a unit of the British Army—very similar, in many respects, to the U.S. Navy Seals. In the context of Web services, those business leaders who dare to be early adopters, those that take the initial plunge, will undoubtedly be the first to truly leverage the strategic and competitive advantages that Web services can deliver—in other words, those that win!

Web services are rapidly evolving from an over-hyped vision of just-intime system integration to a set of standards and technologies that can be used to solve real-world business problems today. The challenge for most of us is how to distinguish the hype from the reality, to identify the real opportunities for the application of Web services, and to create an achievable plan that can rapidly deliver business value. In the Executive’s Guide to Web Services, we have sought to remove the hype surrounding Web services, to navigate a path through the maze of standards and acronyms and to identify real opportunities to leverage Web services for business value and competitive advantage, both today and in the coming months and years.

Today, the reality is that the adoption and use of Web services is not an option, but rather a necessity. Web services are fundamentally changing the way in which information technology is used, both within the enterprise and across organizational boundaries. They are the foundation from which the World Wide Web is evolving, propelling us into an era in which the Internet is truly the de facto platform over which businesses operate. A decision to ignore or shun the business potential of Web services will likely imperil an organization’s market position, and even its viability, as market fundamentals begin to shift.