How Mainframe Modernization is Shaping Tomorrow’s Business Giants

Many senior IT industry veterans are old enough to remember when computing systems were designed primarily as self-contained systems, having little need for integration with the outside world. Mainframes were the powerhouses of global enterprise, processing millions of transactions quickly, securely, and reliably.

Then came the Internet, and the world changed. Today, connectivity is the norm. Fast and easy integration became an essential prerequisite for innovation.

That leaves today’s mainframe shops in an uncomfortable position. They’re using legacy systems to operate their most mission-critical processes, yet those systems run on archaic database technology and outdated programming languages that are difficult to maintain and integrate with modern platforms. Operating costs are rising fast, and experienced mainframe experts are becoming increasingly difficult to hire and retain.

Learn more: Mainframe specialists are retiring. Do you have a backup plan?

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The Modernization Imperative

For most organizations, three factors are driving the accelerated push towards modernization.

First, mainframe vendors face negative economies of scale, so they’re forced to increase prices for their remaining customers.

Second, as the last generation of mainframe specialists reaches retirement age, it’s getting harder (and more expensive) to find experts who can maintain these systems.

Third, legacy mainframe technology is acting as a barrier to innovation, hampering agility and making it harder to bring new products and services to market. In most industries, this is a huge competitive disadvantage.

Some organizations face yet another problem: outright obsolescence. Mainframe vendors are simply no longer supporting some of these legacy systems. Software vendors, likewise, are dialing back support and maintenance. In some cases, they’re discontinuing it altogether. That raises significant concerns with respect to business continuity and security.

‍“The decision to modernize is no longer a question of if but when. As more organizations recognize the constraints of mainframe systems, the move towards cloud-based and hybrid environments is accelerating. - Scott Silk, CEO of Astadia, an Amdocs company

Better, Faster, Cheaper with Automation and GenAI

Until recently, modernizing these legacy systems has been adaunting proposition. Poorly documented legacy code, high levels of complexity, and a shortage of skilled experts dictated that organizations commit to long timelines and large budgets. Failed migrations were commonplace. Even today, the industry’s success rate can be discouraging.

Fortunately, innovation is providing a better way of modernizing legacy systems. With the rise of automation and AI-assisted processes, the transformation process has become dramatically faster, easier, and less expensive. Astadia, for example, has developed the most advanced automation toolset on the market, achieving nearly 100% automation.

This enables the company to steadily innovate, using GenAI to enhance its modernization capabilities and create added value for its clients. While many vendors focus on applying GenAI to streamline automation, Astadia is exploring new use cases to expand its offerings and maintain a strong market position.

Perhaps most importantly, Astadia’s technology reduces project risk dramatically, giving stakeholders a very high level of confidence that they will achieve their intended outcomes. Over the past years, the company has achieved a 100% success rate with its mainframe modernization projects.

Learn more: Strategies for Successful Mainframe Modernization

Automation: The Key to a Seamless Transition

One of the greatest challenges in mainframe modernization is ensuring that the transition to modern systems happens without disrupting business operations. Given the critical nature of mainframe workloads, any interruption can have significant financial and operational consequences.

Astadia’s approach ensures a smooth migration from legacy mainframe systems to modern cloud-based or hybrid platforms. This is made possible by the company’s integrated approach to modernization, which brings together code conversion, data migration, testing, and validation under a single umbrella.

Astadia’s “Migration Factory” solution allows for unlimited iterations of redesign, conversion, migration, and automated testing. Project sponsors can see exactly how their migrated systems will operate within the target environment. They can perform exhaustive functional and performance tests using full automation, as many times as they would like.

Learn more: Mainframe Modernization in a Factory: What Needs to be Automated?

A New Era of Cost Efficiency and Agility

Astadia’s solutions help organizations move away from high-cost mainframe environments by transitioning their legacy workloads to cloud-based platforms. This not only reduces the hardware and maintenance costs but also unlocks the scalability and flexibility that modern cloud environments offer.

“By migrating to the cloud, businesses can scale their operations up or down as needed, without the heavy overhead costs associated with mainframes. This level of flexibility is something that legacy systems simply cannot offer.” – Chad Jones, Astadia’s Chief Revenue Officer

Moreover, by modernizing their mainframe environments, enterprises can take advantage of advanced analytics, artificial intelligence(AI), and machine learning (ML) tools that are difficult to implement on traditional mainframe platforms. This opens new opportunities for businesses to innovate, drive new revenue streams, and enhance their customer experiences.

Finally, modernization opens the door to a vastly larger pool of talent by eliminating dependencies on specialized skills that are becoming increasingly hard to find.

The Global Business Opportunity

Mainframe modernization represents a significant global business opportunity, driven by the need for greater agility, scalability, and cost savings. According to recent industry reports, the global market for mainframe modernization is expected to experience double-digit growth in the coming decade as more organizations transition from legacy systems to cloud-based platforms.

For businesses in financial services, telecommunications, and government sectors, which have long relied on mainframes to handle large-scale transactions and sensitive data, modernization offers a way to stay competitive in an increasingly digital world.

The ability to integrate modern technologies, such as AI and data analytics, allows these enterprises to remain agile and responsive to market changes, while also improving operational efficiency.

As an Amdocs company, Astadia’s global footprint positions the company as a leader in this rapidly growing market.

“Astadia is a horizontal company, but we see a lot of opportunity in telecom and financial services, two industries where Amdocs has expertise and dominance. This gives several advantages to our clients. While Astadia solves all mainframe critical issues, with Amdocs’s surrounding SI services we can deliver an end-to-end solution for mainframe modernization through cloud engineering services, quality engineering, data and analytics services, managed services, DevOps and more.” – Scott G. Silk

Learn more: Why 2025 is the Year to Modernize Mainframe Applications

Modernization as a Strategic Imperative

Enterprises across the globe are realizing that legacy systems, while reliable, are holding them back from achieving the agility, scalability, and cost efficiency required to compete effectively in today’s global marketplace. Historically, substantial risks and high costs served as substantial barriers to modernization. With Astadia’s approach, – centered on automation, cost efficiency, and scalability, – businesses finally have a clear path toward unlocking new opportunities for innovation and growth.

Learn more: The Astronomical Cost of Standing Still