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Current Blog Series: Answers to the Top 10 Questions CIOs face when considering an IBM i Digital Transformation Project

Last week, we launched a new blog series. Over the next couple of months, we will be discussing the Top 10 questions CIOs face when considering the Digital Transformation of their IBM i application portfolio. Following is the second in the ten-part series.


Question 2: I know I need to modernize my IBM i legacy applications. Where do I begin?

As we discussed last week, your organization has relied on your legacy IBM i systems to support critical business operations for decades successfully. Nevertheless, the risks of retaining languishing legacy systems are profound. We have reached the point where the pain of staying the same has exceeded the pain of change. Adopting modern, cloud-based systems is now a strategic imperative.


The sheer magnitude of the effort and its associated risk and cost is daunting. Where do I begin?

Launching an IBM i digital transformation plan without a clear path forward presents many risks. What will happen if the new system lacks the critical functionality on which your organization depends? How will you overcome the disruption to your operation when a new workflow is introduced? Can you predict and prepare for the costs of lost staff productivity and retraining?


Legacy IBM i applications are large, monolithic, and complex by design. Without access to application experts or up to date documentation, there is little or no visibility into your system's functionality. If your business is like most IBM i shops, your system's original authors are long gone. If you are fortunate enough to have any subject matter experts still on staff with in-depth knowledge of your applications, they are likely nearing retirement age. Moreover, any documentation you had of the system functionality has probably become dated, inaccurate, and incomplete.


So, how can I develop a clear, predictable path forward?

Without a deep understanding of the system dependencies and interfaces, there is no clear path forward in your modernization efforts. Fortunately, visualization technology exists today such as that of ETS that clearly shows how legacy systems are organized, where assets are reused across systems and subsystems, and identifies assets that are no longer used. This technology provides you with a clear understanding of your essential legacy applications' structure, including interfaces and dependencies within systems. This comprehensive drill down into legacy systems is a critical prerequisite to any successful digital transformation project.


Click here for a detailed presentation of ETS' Digital Transformation technology-enabled service. https://www.etsassociates.com/digital-transformation-demo


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Modernization of legacy systems has become a strategic imperative. Though complex, monolithic, legacy systems run your organization’s essential functions, the reality is that you likely have no one on your team with a comprehensive understanding of the legacy ecosystem and the challenges you will face in your specific modernization effort.

Just as mountain climbers rely on trusted guides to lead them to the summit of Mount Everest, CIO’s need reliable advisors to guide them through their digital transformation process. There is no substitute for experts who understand the legacy platform that supports your organization’s critical daily operations.

ETS has made it our mission to provide companies like yours with the global expertise you need to successfully transform your legacy applications. We have decades of experience in IBM(i) and .NET, as well as platform modernization, and we want to be your trusted digital transformation partner regardless of your application modernization objectives.


In order to help you evaluate your specific technical challenges and for us to recommend a path for your successful modernization project, ETS has created a custom Digital Transformation Readiness Assessment (DTRA) tool.

We are offering this tool to you at no cost. To sign up and to receive this vital assessment for your company, please go to https://www.etsassociates.com/migrations-and-transformations and download the instructions along with the ETS tool (which will collect your metadata). The information you return will enable us to analyze your systems and to prepare your free customized IBM(i) DTRA.


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The discussion in this blog assumes that you have made the difficult choice to transform your decades old AS/400 Legacy applications and have pledged to allocate the resources, time and funding to the effort.

It also assumes you have completed a Legacy Audit of your AS/400 application portfolio and ecosystem and now have a strategic plan for a phased digital transformation project with priorities and application dependencies.

So, what’s next?

There are four primary options available for modernizing critical legacy systems. You can:

- Replace them with off-the-shelf packages or SaaS solutions

- Rewrite them from scratch on a leading-edge platform in a modern language

- Move them to an emulated COBOL or RPG environment in the cloud (Lift and Shift)

- Migrate them to equivalent functionality in a modern language on a leading-edge platform

Which option is best for your legacy application? (*see Benefit Comparison Chart below for benefits of each)


1. Replace

This option can be quite effective when modernizing a small percentage of non-mission critical legacy applications. If the functionality of your legacy application is relatively generic and not a strategic differentiator of your organization, and an off-the shelf package is available with similar functionality, this may be a good option. Applications that perform accounting, human resources or CRM functions are good candidates for replacement with off-the-shelf or SaaS based software. Implementing off-the-shelf solutions will almost certainly create disruption as users will be required to alter their workflow in order to conform to the functionality of the new application. This option also involves significant risk that the new software will not provide all of the essential functionality of the existing system.


2. Rewrite

Many years ago, this option was a popular choice for modernizing critical, strategic applications when companies had invested significantly in the business rules that supported their operations and when they had the luxury of resources, time and funding. In the past 10-15 years however, 90% of these enormous projects have run substantially over budget and behind schedule and half of them have failed and were abandoned. Many of the multi-million-dollar debacles were headline news while some put their organizations out of business. For these reasons, today very few organizations launch this type of wholesale rewrite project for digital transformation.


3. Move or “Lift and Shift”

This option has gained attention in recent years because it is a relatively straightforward way to enable legacy applications to run in the cloud. A number of government agencies and corporations have successfully migrated their mainframe workloads to the cloud using this approach. As a result, they have benefitted from the scalability of cloud platforms and can quickly adjust to meet unforeseen increases in transaction volume such as the sudden demand for unemployment claim applications resulting from the CARES Act.

Though this option offers a lower initial risk and cost than the Replace and Rewrite options, it does nothing to address the enormous threat posed by the aging and inflexible COBOL and RPG applications nor does it ameliorate the perilous shortage of technical resources available and capable of supporting them. As long as COBOL and RPG applications are deployed to run mission critical operations, whether in the cloud or on legacy hardware, our global economy will be at serious risk.


4. Migrate

Technology-enabled, complete conversion of the legacy applications and ecosystems to modern languages, databases and platforms is clearly the most reasonable approach to modernization. It protects the trillions of dollars governments and businesses have invested in the business rules (detailed functionality) which run their operations successfully every day.

By migrating the critical legacy software to equivalent functionality in a modern platform, there is no risk that a crucial function will be overlooked which is common when replacing or rewriting the legacy systems. Automation offers a timely and affordable transformation to a modern language, database and platform with a vast pool of technical resources qualified to maintain and support these critical systems for years to come. This option extends the useful life of these critical legacy applications substantially.

*Benefit Comparison Chart for each option:

ETS can help you make the transformation https://www.etsassociates.com/contact-us.


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