This white paper cuts through the marketing hype surrounding service-oriented architecture (SOA) and focuses on the three most important things you need to know about this groundbreaking technology. First, to deliver maximum agility, an SOA-based enterprise application should be highly granular, consisting of small, component-based features that can be brought online as needed. Second, the application should use Web services to enable your company to open its processes and systems to customers, suppliers, and partners. Third, the application should be capable of managing change caused by shifting customer demands; globalization; changing technology and standards; or mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. As the white paper points out, it's a good idea to ask application providers how their products would respond to various business scenarios that might unfold over time.