And because the vast majority of enterprises are in the first or second stage (and, again, they don’t get to skip), it will be years, perhaps decades, before SOA is widely adopted in an effective way, Ross says.

CISR’s research provides a road map for both the business and IT to follow so that they can avoid fruitless diversions, not get discouraged during the long haul and understand what success should look like when it’s finally achieved. Happily, Ross notes that each stage comes with its own benefits, so there are short-term returns on the long-term architectural investment.

Each stage takes about five years to get through, says Ross, though that period could shorten as more companies go through the process and learn what missteps to avoid. "Seven years ago, there were no architectural practices at the research firms," notes State Street’s Saul. Today’s enterprises, he says, don’t have to feel their way as much.

The good news, according to Ross, is that your competitors are likely to be at or near the same architectural maturity level as you are, and they can’t leapfrog any stages either. Those that try to could waste time and effort deploying business processes and IT infrastructure that they’re not ready to use.

Rather than attempting great leaps forward, Ross suggests that CIOs should partner with the rest of the business to move their enterprise forward incrementally, gaining expertise, building buy-in and reaping the ROI that will sustain long-term maturity. Having the architectural maturity framework in mind during that evolution gives CIOs and their business peers a way to evaluate if they’re really progressing, she says.

The SOA Buzz

CIOs can’t avoid SOA today. Research firms and the business press trumpet its ability to make companies agile and efficient. Vendors apply the label, often speciously, to help sell their products. No matter where CIOs turn, they hear the same message: You must deploy an SOA—quickly—or be at a competitive disadvantage.

Indeed, there are advantages to adopting the SOA approach even if you’re not at the stage at which CISR says enterprises can reap its full benefits. "If you deploy SOA-based technology before your organization is ready, you might still get a more efficient integration system in IT," says Ron Schmelzer, a senior analyst at SOA consultancy ZapThink. Implementing SOA concepts, even in a limited fashion like creating Web services, also "helps create a common vocabulary so the business and IT groups start moving in the same direction," notes Judith Hurwitz, CEO of the consultancy Hurwitz & Associates.