Were business process management (BPM) and service-oriented architecture (SOA) made for each other? The two are like "kissing cousins," according to Celent's Donald Light. Another industry watcher, Vivek Mehra, vice president, global financial services and insurance, for technology consultant Keane, doesn't believe BPM and SOA were envisioned in that way but adds, "That's how it's panning out."

Light, a senior analyst in the insurance practice, describes SOA as an important landmark on BPM vendors' technology road map. "In terms of the reality of 2007 applications and technology in the BPM space, vendors don't have a story to tell to a prospective buyer that doesn't include SOA," he says. "The reason the SOA story is so important [with BPM] is a vast working majority of insurance companies have some kind of SOA element to their own IT road maps and architecture."

There is little doubt the two sides co-exist well. Mehra credits the SOA technology itself. "Its availability and applicability is very strong in the insurance space," he observes. The question of adoption still remains, though. "There's a serious lag in the insurance community compared with the rest of financial services," says Mehra.

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