To help you evaluate your current needs before moving forward with Web services, Don Awalt, founder and CEO of RDA, a software engineering firm whose solutions help companies offer services over the Internet, provides some insight on these critical elements of Web services.

Security is the most important aspect of Web services. To successfully provide services and access to data and applications over the Web, organisations must determine how they can secure communications and transactions.

Basically, Web services work to expose the inner workings of your company to the Internet, Awalt said. Public users of your Web services will have a window into your data and how you do business. This has both security and customer service implications, according to Awalt. Not only do you have to secure that access to the data, but you also have to account for customer issues that may arise from doing business in this manner.

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