Web Services: Believe the Hype

During the Internet boom, this cycle repeated itself almost weekly. So many overzealous, overfunded and simply bad ideas arose that it became hard to keep track of the ineptitude. Now that the dust has settled, only a precious few of these ideas remain, their crusaders still earnestly trying to make them come to fruition.

One of these is Web services. The concept is a curious one. Web services first arrived on the scene with all the fanfare so common in the late-'90s -- fanfare that given the subsequent stock market crash and e-commerce misery should've doomed Web services to the technology graveyard.

Yet five years later, it hasn't really hit. Still it endures. Lately it has even gained momentum. Why? Because it's a good idea, plain and simple. If not for the economic downturn, the concept of delivering software applications as services over the Web might now be as unquestioningly accepted as the supply-and-demand curve. When well-executed, Web services can be one of the precious few technologies that fulfills its promise of cutting costs while increasing productivity and being easier to use than what came before it.

But as I said, it hasn't really hit. A big reason for this is the IT spending crunch. But that's only part of the story. When you read about Web services, there's always a line about how this service or that one will streamline operations and improve a company's relationship with its partners or customers. (Full disclosure: I, myself, have written that line more than a few times.)

What accounts like these lack are specific details about how company A used Web services B to reduce costs from X to Y, and moreover, exactly how that reduction was worth whatever risk the company took to make the transition. Moving to a Web services model involves some potentially serious risks -- of security, of process and of getting partners and customers fully on board with the new program. To make this kind of leap, would-be Web service users need abundantly clear evidence that it's worth their while.

The second thing that has to happen for Web services to take hold is that more than a few people have to be the first ones to take the leap. There's no question that times are tight, but analyst after analyst will tell you that whoever spends wisely now -- making strategic IT purchases to upgrade infrastructure and pave the way for emerging technologies -- will hit the ground running once the economy turns the corner.

Web services hasn't quite arrived yet, but it most certainly will. The companies creating the services, and the press reporting on them, must do a better job of explaining their true worth. But if they -- if we -- can accomplish this, the only question for IT decision makers will be whether they want to lead the technology curve or just go along for the ride.