Enterprise IT Organizations Explore Mainframe Application Modernization Initiatives to Support Successful Transformation

By Lane F. Cooper, Editorial Director, BizTechReports

To loosely paraphrase Mark Twain, prevailing rumors about the death of mainframe computers and applications in the enterprise computing environment have been highly exaggerated.

In a 2021 IDC study that analyzed 446 businesses across the globe to measure the efficacy of migrating to the cloud versus modernizing existing mainframe systems and applications, the case for the latter won the day. Businesses that leveraged modernization roadmaps to re-invest in existing mainframe platforms reported overall better outcomes -- quantitatively and qualitatively -- than those that migrated enterprise applications to the cloud. The researchers found that, in many cases, re-platforming applications in the cloud is often riskier and more expensive than modernizing existing mainframe investments.

“This is not news to enterprise IT professionals who regularly work with mainframe applications. Many of these applications drive value and generate revenue, offering consistent and dependable experiences that are highly valued at both a performance and financial level,” says Aparna Sharma, Managing Partner, Hybrid Cloud Transformation, IBM Consulting, in a podcast interview with BizTechReports.

However, that does not mean that the industry should embrace the status quo. Modernization is the key to addressing the challenges that mainframe platforms often pose to organizations pursuing aggressive business transformation initiatives. Legacy applications that run on these mammoth platforms often find themselves in danger of being isolated and disconnected from the rest of the enterprise computing environment.

This is of particular concern for organizations implementing and integrating other cloud-based applications across today’s hybrid multi-cloud infrastructures. Left unmanaged, executives risk creating rigid silos of disconnected compute activities that can stand in the way of implementing agile data-driven business processes that depend on real-time – or at least near-real-time – access to critical information resources.

“The good news is that significant progress is being made in working with monolithic applications – such as major ERP systems – that run on mainframes. By leveraging emerging technologies – including containerization – organizations can create integrated technology environments that more effectively share data and compute resources across on-prem mainframe and cloud-computing resources, says Barry Baker, Vice President, Product Management of IBM Z.

Moreover, adds Baker, when organizations launch their mainframe modernization initiatives correctly, they can immediately begin to secure ongoing efficiencies and performance improvements.

“We have seen organizations drive down per-transaction costs in a matter of weeks and months by getting current with the latest technologies and using modern tools to integrate mainframe platforms with the rest of the enterprise computing environment,” says Baker.

This is why mainframe application modernization initiatives have accelerated over the last 18 months.

“Effective mainframe modernization initiatives allow organizations to leverage new cloud-native features and functionality. It also enhances the ability for organizations to perform stringent feasibility analyses to elevate performance by optimizing all resources – including talent – to determine how workloads can be modernized,” says Sharma.

In turn, this accelerates the implementation of effective hybrid modernization strategies that integrate application resources across complex heterogeneous infrastructures.

“There is growing interest in better understanding the role of ‘in-place-modernization,’” concludes Sharma. “This requires a detailed multi-disciplinary assessment of current state activities against future state objectives. Central to this assessment is an ‘application discovery’ process that captures where – and why – current workloads are located today.”

For more information on BizTechReport podcast interviews, please contact Melissa Fisher at MFisher@BizTechReports.com.