Digital transformation demands that every IT shop find new ways to move faster and reach their customers with new innovative solutions. Getting new code to market quicker than the competition requires smart tools and intuitive integration to enable faster delivery. Ed Airey explores the new Micro Focus COBOL Analyzer product offering and its capacity to help developers and analysts deliver on this promise.
Every Journey Needs a Map
‘Are we there yet?’
A familiar family question heard on most long distance car trips. A question that’s also difficult to answer, particularly when some drivers, despite better guidance, go off the beaten track. The increasing mobile use and popularity of satellite navigation (or GPS) technology, has made answering this question a bit easier in recent years. Assuming you listen to the little voice in the box. For those that wait on every wise word and detailed direction, it’s hard to imagine life without GPS. Once you’re used to reliable directions that get you there, every time, why would you take a different path or use a different tool? The same can be said for application analysis when the right tooling is used.

The Code Analysis Challenge
Less than 10% of developers use application analysis tools on a daily basis, according to a recent analyst study. As many as 44% use analysis tools on a project-by-project basis, yet we see a continual need in IT to drive greater efficiency, faster time to market and reduce code re-work. And that’s exactly how these tools can help—to get you to your destination, quickly and reliably, every time – without getting lost!
It’s Time to Take on Digital Transformation
If you, as a developer, could help your team better understand its core business systems, determine where code change need to occur and reduce the amount of re-work that delays code from going live, wouldn’t you jump at that chance? Or as a business analyst or IT manager, if you could easily onboard new talent to your team, improve collaboration between dev and operations teams or improve IT productivity, would you not take that opportunity? These are the promises of application analysis tools—helping you better understand your business application and manage code change with confidence.

Introducing COBOL Analyzer
Today, Micro Focus announces a new offering for its COBOL customers—COBOL Analyzer. The solution enables developers, analysts and IT management better understand the impact of application change. Using familiar tools, IT teams can gain immediate insight to where changes need to occur, understand how and where those code change should be made and do so with an understanding of their impact across the entire codebase.
Finally, COBOL Analyzer delivers the integrated toolset to accelerate that change with confidence. Only COBOL Analyzer can help you visualize, understand and act on application code change. Unlike other offerings, COBOL Analyzer is a solution designed for Micro Focus COBOL applications. For development teams wondering if the last code package passed QA or made it to production. For teams that are pushed to deliver better code, faster, but are unsure if ‘they’re there yet, code analysis tools are your GPS and trusted toolset to help you reach your destination with greater confidence.

Give it a Try
And there’s good news. You can try this new solution for nothing. To register for your personal copy, visit the COBOL Analyzer product page. Also, for those that would like to get started quickly, take a look at the community page for more great materials including a 5-part video playlist, code samples and a getting started tutorial. For organizations with Micro Focus COBOL applications, this is your unique opportunity to gain better insight into your business applications, accelerate code change and reach that digital destination.