Service Orientation in the Enterprise

Three short contributions address the needs, solutions, and effects of service orientation in applications as diverse as mobile telecommunications, e-government, and logistics. "Toward Mobile Services: Three Approaches"--For most companies, software products are considerably more valuable if integrated into a product suite from which each customer can pick and choose a unique configuration. Similarly, in an increasingly networked world, a company can greatly benefit from uniformly integrating its products with those of other companies in the same ecosystem. "New Paradigms for Next-Generation E-Government Projects"--Although the quality of management training is an important dimension of e-government success, three emerging IT trends are defining new rules for the public sector. These paradigms require next-generation e-government projects to shift the emphasis from building on proper technology to gaining a more profound understanding of the nature of organizational transformation and business process management. "Creating Business Value through Flexible IT Architecture"--In addition to mastering IT management, a flexible architecture is a key prerequisite for excellent IT delivery. In an evolutionary approach to architecture transformation, Deutsche Post developed a coordinated set of projects that implemented and reused business services, thus both creating business value and contributing to a flexible IT landscape.