How IT Can Satisfy the End User Demands On Emerging Trends

With new opportunities coming up and possibilities increasing, the expectations of the organizations from mainframes are also on a rise. Meeting such high expectations is not an easy task. There are a lot of things to look at like the amount and variety of change required, managing the complex system, less resources and investments and tight timelines. To come up to the expected level the IT team is on a constant run.

Technology is to help the business, but what do the businesses or the users actually think of the services offered and what is it that they actually need?

Let’s explore a list of those emerging trends and consider how IT can satisfy the demands of the most important of critics – the end user.

Derek Britton, Director, Product Marketing, Micro Focus

BYOD
We are well aware of the phenomenal rise of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and how it is being embraced by many organizations. You want easy access, you want availability, you want power and control as a user. Access to core apps need to be instantaneously provided on your device of choice, without further burden on the overworked development teams. Safe and secure access to core mainframe apps, from your chosen device. What is needed is technology that can embrace BYOD without compromising on mainframe resilience.

Mobile Computing
With mobile devices spreading faster than any other consumer technology in history, everyone wants to ‘go mobile’. You want a mobile workforce, you want flexibility, accessibility and agility. You want safe and secure access to core mainframe apps, from mobile devices, whenever, wherever.

End-User Computing
IT just isn’t cutting it. Its reputation is through the floor. It can’t deliver updates quickly enough, and the rest of the business is complaining. Users deride the so-called enhancements to the applications because they look archaic. The balance of power is shifting; IT is no longer setting the agenda on technology. The business teams and marketing leaders are requesting specifics and tech-savvy end users are pushing the boundaries each week. Pent-up demand for innovation is rising. Provide those ground-breaking new facilities they need, quickly.

IT Skills
Building smart new interfaces takes time. Expensive programming time. Building points of integration between smart new interfaces and existing back-office (mainframe-based) systems is just as tricky. Setting up and deploying new user services in a Java application server is hardly straightforward either. IT skills to support a ‘home grown’ innovation such as new user applications are expensive and not always available. Relying on costly and time-consuming efforts like this is inefficient and risky.

IT as a Service (ITaaS)
IT is constantly in demand. And when treated as a separate enterprise within the organization, there are additional pressures to achieve. Heavy reliance and continuous demands, issues and requests puts IT in a tricky position. They must juggle the never-ending requirements. And, with emphasis always on the line of business, there’s often very little time left to innovate.

To top it off, costs are often tightly controlled, with the requirement to act as a profit centre. Therefore how can IT possibly build new applications – or even re-write them – with all these constraints? The solution is technology which allows existing applications to be modernized quickly and easily, without any requirement for coding or specialist development knowledge.

The Modern Mainframe
The IBM mainframe has come a long way in the 50 years it’s been around. The modern mainframe can handle far larger quantities of data, process vast application estates, support a cloud infrastructure, and provide unprecedented levels of flexibility and return on value. A vast improvement in the technology hasn’t, however, equated to the same improvements in user experience, with tired old character-based user interfaces still widely used. Imagine having the option to modernize your user interface with all the features and controls of modern interfaces, and then having it available on desktop, web and mobile.

Football