Digital Transformation and the Mainframe

Source connect logo in blue and white color.

SourceConnecte! Marketplace With A Mission

By pwsadmin | March 6, 2020

Earlier this year, GC GlobalNet launched a new breed of B2B e-commerce sites. Curated by Kevin L. Jackson, SourceConnecte (with an “eâ€) went live with three strategic goals in mind: Efficiently leverage modern…

A man sitting on top of a building with a laptop.

Potential vs. Reality: Is Edge Computing Real?

By pwsadmin | January 19, 2020

Edge computing provides compute, storage, and networking resources close to devices generating traffic. Its benefits are based on an ability to provide new services capable of meeting stringent operational requirements…

An aerial view of a truck on a road near the ocean.

Enabling Digital Transformation

By pwsadmin | December 22, 2019

Digital transformation integrates technology into all areas of an organization’s business or mission. Its fundamental purpose is to create and deliver innovative and industry-changing products and services to a global…

A woman in red sitting on a chair with the word thinkshield.

The ThinkShield Story Part 1: The Challenge

By G C Network | October 24, 2019

  The cybersecurity challenge seems to be growing daily. Threats are becoming more sophisticated, and attacks are becoming more destructive while the corporate world’s response seems to resemble a deer…

A group of people walking up a set of stairs.

CIO dream team: Who’s in and why?

By G C Network | October 12, 2019

Today’s CIO navigates the twin challenges of enabling new business models and managing rapid technological change. Cloud computing strategies are now table stakes. CIOs must make complex decisions about using…

The ibm logo is seen on a black and blue computer.

Digital Transformation and the Mainframe

By G C Network | September 1, 2019

Digital transformation infuses digital technology into all areas of an organization’s business or mission. Its fundamental purpose is to create and deliver innovative and industry-changing digital products and services to…

A man standing in a server room with blue lights.

Composable Architecture Q&A. Are you ready?

By G C Network | August 26, 2019

Q: Is it time for my company to jump on the composable architecture bandwagon? A: Composable architectures are quickly becoming essential to the modern enterprise. Citing a recent Forrester study:…

A diagram showing a network of devices.

Increase Productivity by Reducing Technology Distraction: Lessons from Forrester Research

By G C Network | August 8, 2019

Workplace productivity is hurt every day by the very technology developed and purchased to improve it. Forrester announced this surprising conclusion in their latest “How To Wake Up From The Nightmare…

A series of pictures showing different types of products.

Unveiling the end-to-end capabilities for the networked society

By G C Network | June 10, 2019

An Interview with Henrik Basilier  By Kevin L. Jackson The telecom industry is rapidly moving towards a future in which networks must have the capabilities of delivering services with the…

A man is holding a credit card on a tablet.

AT&T Finance Solutions GM on Shrimping, Software, and CX

By G C Network | June 10, 2019

Helping clients address the trends and challenges presented by the Financial Services industry is the main focus for René Dufrene in his role as General Manager of Finance Solutions at…

Digital transformation infuses digital technology into all areas of an organization’s business or mission. Its fundamental purpose is to create and deliver innovative and industry-changing digital products and services to a global customer base. By doing this, an enterprise gains an ability to quickly act and react to changing data, operational conditions and competitive strategies in a manner that supports rapid attainment of the organization’s goals.

A survey of 2,000 executives conducted by Cognizant in 2016 identified the top five ways digital transformation generates value:

  • Accelerating speed to market
  • Strengthening competitive positioning
  • Boosting revenue growth
  • Raising employee productivity; and
  • Expanding the ability to acquire, engage and retain customers

Digital transformation also changes the enterprise IT environment from exclusive data centers to one that also includes managed services and hybrid cloud computing. One of the key challenges with this, however, is the question: where does the mainframe fit?

Interestingly, two additional key challenges businesses face in their transformation to take advantage of cloud is their need to match the data protection and privacy and the resiliency of their on-premises infrastructure. The good news is that this makes the mainframe question very easy to answer.

Mainframes fit EVERYWHERE! With their unmatched data protection and privacy and the ability to deliver near constant uptime, IBM Z enterprise platforms solve all three challenges.

  • Banks process enormous volumes of transactions. Investment banks prioritize high-frequency trading and need to react instantaneously to changes in financial markets. In both cases, IT leaders rely on a platform that delivers the scale and instant growth that commodity servers just can’t.
  • Insurance companies use data to assess risk, set prices, and guide their investments.
  • In healthcare, organizations trust this platform to ensure regulatory compliance, and deliver highly available data storage, data protection and data privacy.
  • Government agencies depend on the data management capabilities. The analysis of their data is used to drive national and international policies.
  • Airlines, government regulators and aircraft manufacturers are dependent to ensure aviation safety and efficiency.
  • Retailers process large volumes of transactions and this technology capability is in even more in demand as the retailing industry transitions from brick and mortar to online.

As for the culture question, humans are creatures of habit. If they aren’t forced to change, they will remain complacent within the familiar bounds of constraints. IT leaders must embrace new directions for continuous improvement across heterogeneous IT environments that include and interact with the mainframe serving as an integral workflow component for mission-critical applications and data. Culture change will also require modern application development tools that make the analysis, editing and building of complex programs easier – and today’s IBM Z uses the same tools and skills as other open platforms.

Mainframes are still foundational to your business, so your organization’s digital transformation must include them as your secure, resilient and agile platform for mission-critical data and apps. Digitally transforming your IT infrastructure will include:

  • Continuing to ensure exceptionally high levels of data protection and privacy while meeting business requirements to move data at will;
  • Integrating processes through centralized management and orchestration across a hybrid multicloud environment
  • Implementing modern workloads like artificial intelligence and blockchain
  • Meeting the high levels of cloud-based redundancy with even higher levels of mainframe-based resiliency for delivering business continuity to mission-critical workloads without incurring unexpected and unplanned additional cost; and
  • Squeezing in even more data while simultaneously reducing the cost of managing that same data.

All of these operational requirements should be part of your future strategy. As you contemplate your 

organization’s next digital transformation move, make sure you fully exploit today’s IBM Z!

Read the IDC report: The Next Frontier for the Mainframe and discover insights into the future of the mainframe

This blog post sponsored by @IBM.

Posted in

G C Network