BOSTON—The days when companies purchase expansive—and expensive—technology applications may be coming to an end, according to a new report from Aberdeen Group. In its "Service-Oriented Architecture Benchmark Report,"the research firm makes a case for more rapid development and adoption of service-oriented architecture (SOA) in supply chain operations over the next five years.

Service-oriented architecture is a technology model that simplifies integration of applications, improves access to information, facilitates communication, and makes available more affordable software packages featuring a selection of services and functions.

Aberdeen asked 300 executives how well their supply chain applications support their strategies for profitable growth. Seventy-five percent said that their supply chain software limits the services they can offer customers.

John Fontanella, senior vice president and service director for supply chain research, believes SOA can solve that problem. The SOA model allows companies to weave together people, applications, and data that support individual, unique processes. Examples of SOA-based applications include SAP's Netweaver and Oracle's Fusion.

But don't expect SOA applications to find their way into the marketplace overnight. Fontanella sees a transition period ahead as vendors scramble to develop SOA-based applications and more users embrace the concept. "The application landscape will change dramatically over the next five years," he says. "During that time, we'll see fewer and fewer companies buying large applications, and instead purchasing business services offered by vendors that have broken up their big, tightly-integrated applications into smaller modules."

To read the complete "Service-Oriented Architecture Benchmark Report," go to: www.aberdeen.com/summary/report/benchmark/RA_SOA_JF_2027.asp\