If your company is considering SOA, there are many issues and challenges that need to be addressed in order to improve the chances for a successful implementation. One issue that is often overlooked early on is an assessment of the company's existing skill sets and the application development culture.
If distributed computing, abstraction, loose coupling and service-orientation are foreign concepts to an organization, there obviously will be challenges to implementing SOA. These companies should seek help from consulting firms who have a proven track record delivering SOA, but they should not let the consultants run the show. There should be a strong technical leader who understands SOA and can set the strategic vision. The consulting firms should complement this person and help the company realize the vision.
Source: CIO, http://www.cio.com