A growing number of firms are deferring or shelving plans for service-oriented architecture (SOA) implementations because of a lack of skills and expertise, or because the business case does not add up, according to new research from Gartner.

The report found that 53 per cent of organisations are already using SOA in some part of their organisations, and 25 per cent have plans to do so in the next 12 months.

But the number with no plans to use SOA has jumped from six per cent in 2007 to 16 per cent this year.

"The number of organisations already pursuing SOA shows a massive change in the future perception of SOA from something that is essentially inevitable for all organisations in a short time, to a situation where many organisations have evaluated SOA and have chosen not to spend time and effort on it," said Gartner research vice president Daniel Sholler.

The two main reasons for not pursuing SOA are a lack of skills and expertise, and no viable business case, according to Gartner.

However, the analyst firm added that many organisations are confused about how to construct a suitable business case for SOA.