Thus, I begin this article by trying to explain why a business would need Web services and how it would impact their business goals. If you are a software engineer, it should be clear that any given subsystem or process could be designed to play the role of a requestor or provider or both. However, when looking at these possible nodes of participation from the vantage point of a business executive, there exists a clear need to understand the potential business models associated with each node. In such a case, the software architect may decide to associate a Web Service with this role to take advantage of a possible reduction in the operational or maintenance costs of an application, or to improve the flexibility of choice associated with available implementations of a given business process. Although there exist three SOA participation nodes, there are actually five possible business roles a company has to choose from.
Lets take a look at each independently.
For a business to identify with this SOA role, it must find some commonality between their business activity and the actions of a requestor. Content Aggregation is an activity where a business entity interacts with a variety of content providers to process or reproduce such content in the desired presentation format of its customers. Examples of such business entities would be any internet portal or information service provider. Service Aggregation is an activity where a business entity interacts with a variety of service providers to re-brand, host, or offer a composite of services to its customers. For a business to identify with this SOA role, it must view itself as performing some degree of an electronic service.