Transforming the Enterprise, One User at a Time

With so many new trends emerging in the mainframe world, is the end user being forgotten?

The mainframe world. The opportunities are endless, the possibilities limitless. Correspondingly, expectations from the business are usually ambitious. However, meeting those expectations is anything but easy. There are lots of issues to contend with: the volume and diversity of required change, managing a bewildering system complexity, often with limited investment, and typically in the fact of aggressive timescales. But while IT team scramble to determine the best ways to tackle things and what to do first, the rest of the business sees it as navel-gazing.

So what is the business asking for? After all, the technology is just there to enable the business. What does the user community really think about the IT service it receives?

But wait, what about those emerging trends we need to exploit to capitalize on our competitive advantage? What about the next generation of technology that IT need to innovate to secure our future growth?

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.

BYOD

In a previous blog, we described 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. What can provide all of this? Rumba+. Tick.

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. Rumba+. Tick.

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. Find the quick wins and the innovative improvements the user community needs. Regain the reputation. Innovate, quickly and without risk. Rumba+. Tick.

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. If only there was a way to get those required user changes without needing specialist skills. Rumba+. Tick.

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. Rumba+. Tick.

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. You guessed it. Rumba+. Tick.

Rumba+

In a mainframe world with endless opportunities yet constant business challenges and emerging trends, Rumba+ helps tick all the boxes. Rumba+ is where green screen apps meet modern interfaces, accelerating efficiency and enhancing the user experience. Provide core system access from Windows, iPad or your web browser – without the risks of new code or reprogramming.

See for yourself how Rumba+ addresses your business issues with our ‘Top 5 Reasons to move to Rumba+’.

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