Top Mainframe Priorities for the Financial Sector: Insights from the 2024 BMC Mainframe Survey

For decades, organizations in the financial sector have relied on the power of the mainframe to handle critical operations. From real-time transaction processing to compliance monitoring, mainframes remain at the heart of financial services, delivering unmatched stability, security, and scalability. Even as consumer expectations shift—from in-person banking to web, mobile, and now AI-driven experiences—the mainframe endures, evolving alongside these changes.?

However, the industry is at a crossroads. While mainframes continue to serve as reliable core systems, financial services organizations face significant challenges. Regulatory requirements are tightening. Operational costs are under scrutiny. And, as the mainframe workforce ages, finding skilled professionals is increasingly difficult. Add to this the pressure to modernize core, business-critical applications while integrating new technologies like AI and cloud. It’s no small task.?

These challenges have created a new balancing act: financial organizations are striving to keep their core systems cutting-edge while responding to rapid technological advancements and changing customer expectations. According to the 2024 BMC Mainframe Survey, the priorities and approaches within the Financial sector offer a clear roadmap for navigating this complexity.?

Strategic Insights: Investments and MIPS Growth Expectations?

Mainframes remain central to financial services, with 42% of organizations increasing their mainframe investments. This uptick in spending signals confidence in the mainframe’s ability to support high-demand, complex operations. At the same time, 47% of respondents have maintained their investment levels, reflecting a focus on optimizing existing systems rather than pursuing expansion. This stability reinforces the role of the mainframe as an essential infrastructure asset.?

Processing power, measured in Million Instructions Per Second (MIPS), also continues to grow. The survey revealed that 46% of financial services firms expect MIPS usage to increase in the next 12 months. These projections reflect ongoing reliance on the mainframe for high-volume, high-value transactions. Meanwhile, 23% anticipate no change in MIPS usage, taking a more conservative approach to capacity planning by emphasizing efficiency within existing resources.?

The data underscores a key insight: financial institutions view the mainframe as indispensable. But to maximize its value, they must align their investments with emerging priorities.?

Top Mainframe Priorities for the Financial Sector?

Financial organizations are navigating a complex landscape, and the survey revealed six top priorities that guide their mainframe strategies in 2024:?

1. Compliance and Security (63%)

As financial institutions face increasing regulatory scrutiny and cyber threats, compliance and security remain top of mind. Mainframes play a critical role in safeguarding sensitive data and ensuring adherence to strict regulatory standards.?

2. Cost Optimization (50%)

Managing costs is a high priority, especially given the high operational expenses tied to mainframes. Organizations are exploring ways to optimize costs without compromising performance or security, whether through improving efficiency or implementing cost-saving technologies.?

3. Application Modernization (48%)

Modernizing core applications is crucial for enabling financial organizations to integrate with newer technologies and keep pace with digital transformation. Updating these systems ensures their continued relevance in a rapidly changing financial ecosystem.?

4. Staffing and Skills (45%)

The aging mainframe workforce poses a significant challenge. Nearly half of financial organizations are prioritizing workforce development to bridge the skills gap, investing in training, recruitment, and knowledge transfer to maintain operational continuity.?

5. Enhancing Automation (38%)

Automation is a key focus, helping to reduce manual interventions, streamline operations, and increase efficiency. By automating routine tasks, financial institutions can reallocate resources to more strategic activities.?

6. AIOps / Operational Analytics (35%)

Interest in AIOps and operational analytics is growing as financial organizations recognize the value of AI-driven insights for monitoring and optimizing mainframe performance. These technologies enable faster issue resolution and more efficient operations.?

AIOps: Addressing the Skills Gap but Facing Complexity?

AIOps is proving to be a game-changer for financial organizations addressing the mainframe skills gap. In fact, twice as many respondents in the financial industry compared to 2023 said that AIOps allowed them to reduce the skill level required of staff. By automating routine processes, AIOps enables teams with less experience to manage mainframe operations effectively, helping bridge the gap left by retiring professionals.?

However, complexity remains a significant barrier. The survey found that 35% of organizations implementing AIOps cited complexity as their biggest challenge. Highly integrated systems and hybrid environments can make it difficult to interpret and act on insights generated by AIOps platforms. This complexity can hinder organizations from realizing the full potential of their investments in automation.?

Generative AI: The Answer to AIOps Complexity?

To overcome these challenges, financial organizations are turning to Generative AI, with 37% planning to implement it alongside AIOps. Generative AI enhances AIOps by providing actionable recommendations and translating complex data into clear, easily digestible insights. It reduces the cognitive load on IT teams, allowing them to make faster, more informed decisions.?

By combining AIOps and Generative AI, organizations can address both operational efficiency and interpretability, enabling them to unlock the full potential of their mainframe investments. Together, these technologies create a hybrid AI strategy that simplifies complexity and drives innovation.?

The Push Toward Cloud Integration?

Another major trend in the Financial sector is the move toward cloud integration. According to the survey, 46% of financial services organizations prioritizing cloud technologies are considering connecting their mainframe to cloud-based workloads. By comparison, only 30% of organizations in other industries share this focus, highlighting the Financial sector’s leadership in hybrid cloud adoption.?

This shift reflects a growing recognition of the benefits of hybrid environments. By integrating mainframes with cloud-based workloads, financial organizations can retain the reliability and security of their core systems while leveraging the scalability and flexibility of the cloud.?

Benefits of Cloud-Enabled Mainframe Data Management?

The transition to cloud-enabled mainframe data management offers several strategic benefits for financial institutions:?

• Cost Efficiency: Moving data from tapes and virtual tape libraries to the cloud reduces high storage and maintenance costs.?

• Agility and Scalability: Cloud storage allows for faster data recovery, better access to archived data, and the ability to scale storage as business needs grow.?

• Enhanced Data Protection: Cloud solutions offer advanced encryption and replication, improving security and compliance in a highly regulated environment.?

By combining the best of the mainframe and the cloud, financial organizations can reduce reliance on outdated storage systems while meeting evolving market and regulatory demands.?

Implications for Financial Organizations?

The insights from the 2024 BMC Mainframe Survey highlight the dual priorities facing financial organizations: maintaining operational reliability while embracing innovation. Investments in compliance, security, and application modernization demonstrate a commitment to ensuring that mainframes remain critical assets in a fast-evolving landscape.?

However, challenges like the aging workforce and the complexity of AIOps require strategic responses. Financial organizations that invest in training programs and succession planning will be better positioned to maintain continuity and expertise. Similarly, adopting hybrid AI strategies that combine AIOps with Generative AI will help organizations simplify complexity, optimize performance, and unlock the full potential of their automation initiatives.?

The move toward cloud integration is another key area of focus. By connecting mainframes to cloud-based workloads, financial organizations can enhance scalability, improve agility, and reduce costs—all while retaining the reliability of their core systems.?

Conclusion

Simplifying Mainframe Management with BMC AMI Solutions?

As the Financial sector continues to evolve, the mainframe remains a vital component of its operations, providing the security, scalability, and reliability needed to power modern financial services. Whether it’s integrating cloud-based workloads, modernizing core applications, or adopting hybrid AI strategies, financial organizations are embracing innovation to remain competitive and future-ready.?

To support this transformation, BMC AMI solutions offer powerful tools for simplifying mainframe management. By enabling financial organizations to optimize operations, enhance efficiency, and confidently navigate modernization, BMC AMI solutions are helping shape the future of the Financial sector.??

To learn more about the 2024 BMC Mainframe Research, watch the on-demand webinar BMC’s 2024 State of the Mainframe Survey Results, or read the eBook “Modernizing Mainframe Investment: Artificial intelligence and DevOps drive the future of the platform.”