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Four mainframe modernization strategies to consider for business transformation

Best practices

Amid a disruptive year and work-from-anywhere policies, the pressure to modernize heritage mainframe technology has never been greater. In fact, more than 70% of C-suite leaders have identified mainframe modernization as a strategic business priority over the next three years.

As CIOs and business leaders mandate rapid modernization, it is critical to assess your environment and determine the best path forward for various mainframe assets. With full knowledge of your current state, you can modernize environments to fit unique performance, security and availability needs.

However, many businesses lack the knowledge to inform their modernization strategy. Burdened by day-to-day infrastructure maintenance, they lose track of application performance, unused assets or investment opportunities across their mainframe.

As you start your modernization journey, mainframe experts help you evaluate existing assets and establish a transformation roadmap. By conducting an assessment of your environment, mainframe advisors and consultants optimize mainframe maintenance, investment, migration or elimination (or all of the above) for your business.

1. Maintain core applications

Mainframe modernization does not necessarily require sweeping change — it may require optimization of your mainframe applications and infrastructure. By keeping core applications in your mainframe, you can avoid rehosting and keep heritage applications in compatible environments.

However, it is important to make sure you are maintaining the right applications on your mainframe infrastructure. While some applications work well with heritage technology, keeping the wrong applications on premises could compromise long-term fit.

To assign the right workloads to the right environments, advisors and consultants conduct performance and capacity assessments that identify applications your business should maintain on your mainframe. As a result, you optimize performance on mission-critical applications while saving time on application modernization tasks.

2. Invest in your infrastructure

Your mainframe is not a cumbersome piece of heritage technology — it is a growth opportunity. According to IDC, more businesses are embracing mainframe investment to increase revenue and improve operational strategy. Adopters of connected mainframe technology achieve up to a 300% return on their investment in five years. 

But at the same time, business leaders often lack an understanding of how to best allocate budget across their estate. As a result, organizations might invest in areas of their mainframe that do not pay off. 

Advisors and consultants conduct full-scale assessments to identify opportunities across your infrastructure, allowing you to focus spend on mainframe innovation so you can improve performance and processes for: 

  • Mobile applications: Accelerate application development, deployment and updates while automating your release pipeline
  • Internal and public APIs: Centralize APIs in a secure environment while accessing dependable management
  • DevOps and agile: Incorporate your mainframe into your DevOps pipeline to speed up your development life cycle 

With a thorough assessment of your mainframe environment, you can access the insights you need to extend the reach and value of your mainframe ​​—and drive long-term innovation for your business.

3. Migrate mainframe to the cloud

Enterprises across industries are rushing to the cloud. In a CIO survey, 68% of business leaders responded that at least partial mainframe migration to the public cloud and expansion of their private cloud environments are their top IT spending drivers.

But mainframe migration is not a straightforward decision for every organization. Since different applications have unique security and performance requirements, it is important to possess an in-depth understanding of your current state before you decide which assets to migrate.

Advisors and consultants work to create a mainframe migration strategy that simplifies your journey to public, private, hybrid or multi-cloud environments. By analyzing your assets, determining your cloud readiness and providing a high-level migration strategy, a mainframe expert enables you to make informed decisions about your cloud environment.

The result? You gain a clear roadmap for cost-effective, flexible cloud deployments.

4. Eliminate unnecessary assets

When you eliminate unused applications, you free up storage space, budget and your teams’ resources. 

Although elimination might seem like an obvious solution, many companies struggle to track unused assets across layered, complex environments. While your team is bogged down by daily management, it is easy for applications to slip through the cracks. 

By taking a thorough inventory of your entire technology environment, advisors and consultants can identify unused assets your team has been missing. As a result, you accelerate application decommissioning — and save costs you can reallocate to transformation initiatives.

Choose Ensono as your mainframe modernization partner

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Ensono is your expert partner as you navigate complex mainframe migration, optimization and modernization decisions. With our IT asset inventory, application dependency mapping and target state design and migration mapping services, you gain a full understanding of your current state and access strategies to transform your mainframe.


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As a neutral, objective party, we explore all of the private cloud, public cloud and mainframe options that meet your business and technical needs. Whether mainframe migration, investment, maintenance or elimination is best for your business, Ensono provides the hybrid support you need to assess your assets and implement strategies for business transformation. In addition to our advisory and consulting services, our thought leadership and decades of expertise guide you toward an in-depth understanding of your current state.


Access end-to-end services

Our end-to-end services also mean we stay with your team long after the strategy phase. With our managed services and cloud services, we help you execute strategy and tackle long-term transformation initiatives. As you rush to modernize your mainframe, we are here to make sure you start out on the right foot, while supporting your ongoing innovation.

Looking for a strategic mainframe migration or modernization partner? Contact Ensono for more information about our advisory and consulting services.

Continuous innovation starts here.