Certoma points to such successes as three multimillion dollar contracts won recently by CIB's global financial institutions group, where a key selling point was the bank's superior technology architecture. "That business is a servicing business; we provide financing for import/export," she explains. "Our technology becomes visible on the client's desktop and takes out a lot of the manual reconciliation work. When they see how our technology provides integration and interfaces across their disparate systems, that's a huge win, because it makes their processes cleaner and error-free.""

Certoma is quick to add that deploying an enterprise-wide SOA in a multibillion dollar company accustomed to siloed development is rarely a picnic. "It's like a rollercoaster," she says. "You go up and down, throw up a couple times, and at the end of the ride, everything's great."

Working to overcome mistrust is one key lesson learned, Certoma says. "You have to have an unwavering commitment to your vision, because it will get hard," she explains. "Getting the business groups to trust another group to build something for them -- it was not seamless, it was not smooth. You have to stick it out."

Relentless communication with the business is also crucial, Certoma adds. "We went to the business and told them exactly what they'd need if they wanted to be an A-player and what we were doing to get there ... no secrets. We have to sell and market this every day."

Also, Certoma adds, the technology team has to understand the business deeply to have credibility. "If the technologist can say, 'Have you thought about trading this way, because then you can make this kind of money, and I can give you these tools to do that?,' that's where the magic happens." Certoma notes that she herself sits on the trading floor in New York, rather than in an office. "I'm always on the floor."