IBM i (iSeries/AS400) Owners: What’s Right For Your Business? Modernize Your Applications? Upgrade? Or Outsource?

The purpose of this blog is to provide a high-level summary of 3 options most IBM owners face: 1) Modernize their software, 2) Upgrade, or 3) Outsource.

Disclaimer: IBM i is an operating system. ISeries and AS400 are server. I use these terms interchangeably to make it easy for folks to find this kind of information on the web.

As my readers know, I speak daily to IBM i owners. These are 3 common questions that confront the folks I talk to.

Most of the folks I talk to love their IBM server for all the right reasons:

1)?????Reliable,

2)?????Dependable,

3)?????Excellent uptime (99.99%),

4)?????Good support,

5)?????Software that’s tailored to their business.

So the right next step depends on the IBM owner’s circumstances.

Modernize Your Software – RPG Is STILL A Great Language

I have many clients that continue to update and refine their applications to better satisfy the needs of their business. They range from basic RPG programming to sophisticated tools.

One of my favorite examples is a client that had hunted for about 4 years to assess Windows-based options to replace their core applications, originally written for their System/36. They had received proposals in the range of $2 - $3 million for the software and implementation with a rollout between 2- 3 years. As they looked closer at their choices they realized that the new Windows-based software was a poor fit for their operation and more money would have to be spent (like another $1-$2 million, best guess) to adapt to their needs.

Well, that did not make sense so they decided instead to modernize their System36 software to IBM i V7.3. Because the original S36 software included special programming tools unique to S36 RPG, this software could not easily be ported to IBM i.

They decided to hire a contract programmer that had expertise with S/36 RPG and IBM i RPG to rewrite their software. They went live on their new IBM POWER server about 9 months later – with their original base system now running on IBM i.

The new CFO had experience with Oracle before he joined this small company and dreamed of adding GUI screens, Business Analytics and AI to turbo-charge the software. Upon further examination, he discovered that for the last 20 years his divisions had taken the basic reports and transcribed them to spreadsheets for actionable reports.

He got estimates to add GUI, Business Analytics to his system. The price tag was huge. More importantly, he sensed that these additions would require a steep learning curve for his users, most of whom had been with the company 20-30 years.

The CFO thought there had to be a better way.

He explained his dilemma to the custom programmer. The programmer explained that he could give him what he was looking for with basic RPG programming at a fraction of the cost the sophisticated tools he had considered.

Skeptically, the CFO approved one small project with a very small price tag. The outcome was so well received by both the users and the CFO, another project was approved. Than another.

That was over 2 years ago. And this client continues to use this IBM i RPG programmer to modernize and refine their core system.

How come?

First, the core system was tailored to this company. The original system provided a solid foundation for a very unique business.

Second, by a process of small steps with small price tags and small wins for each project, the CFO has realized that he can get more done both easily and more cost-effectively than the other “sophisticated” options he thought he needed. And, with less risk.

So that you know, I have been on the sidelines for several years watching this client’s software development progress. The story I share is high-level.

What I can tell you is that RPG is a very effective language for generating applications and information to help folks run their businesses. Despite the claims of modern programming languages and tools being more cutting edge and sophisticated, I am still impressed with how fast and cost-effective RPG programming can be.

Upgrade – New Server And Software That Has Support

I can relate to my clients that hate to spend money when they feel they don’t have to. So many of them have computers that are 10-20 years old. Some even older.

So why upgrade to get new stuff when my old stuff still works?

The simple answer is to get support.

Over the years, I have written several blogs about failed servers that could not easily be repaired. Some never could recover. Parts for servers older than 15 years are hard to come by. Field engineers that know this legacy hardware are very few. Worse yet, many of these failed servers did not have complete backups. Yikes!

More recently, servers of all makes and models are vulnerable to bad players. The newer software versions are designed to eliminate known (and in some cases, unknown) vulnerabilities.

So, one way to protect your critical systems is to keep your software and support current.

Also, as IBM enhances the POWER server and the operating systems to be more connectable to API’s, web services and external devices (like SAN), it is more important than ever to keep your firmware current as well as your hardware and software.

Failure to upgrade to keep current is a recipe for unrecoverable downtime.

(This is not a scare tactic. I see several cases of non-recoverable systems every year. Imagine how many I don’t hear about!)

Outsource – Focus Your Energies To Make The Biggest Difference In Your Business

I generally see this apply to clients that choose to host their IBM i applications. Either they have little or no in house IBM i skills, they are phasing out their IBM i system, or they want to focus their limited IT resources to focus on their business instead of server administration.

In the early years of hosting, most clients selected hosting because it was so much less expensive than a new server.

Nowadays, most folks tell me they want out of the hardware business. By IBM i Hosting, they get a better payback to focus on their business instead of IBM i administration.

To make a comparison, my company recently upgraded our system to new levels of software and hardware to protect our business from bad players, make it easier to recover if we do get attacked, and make it more flexible for our teammates to work from home or on the road.

Did we do this work ourselves? Heck no!

It was far less expensive and much faster to hire experienced pros to do this for us so we could concentrate on running our daily business.

When you face needed changes, checking outsourcing options may make good sense and save you money and time.

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