z/OS Customers: Time to Swap Out Your Checkpoint Restart Tools

If you're running z/OS, in all likelihood, your batch processing jobs have been on a set-it-and-forget-it schedule for years. Your batch streams run without intervention and the people who set up those jobs are probably long gone. But batch processing remains a critical aspect of running z/OS and it is not prudent to wait till an issue sneaks up on you (a schedule over-running into an online window, output not received on time, etc.) to reassess the efficacy of your current checkpoint solution.??

There are two main reasons to consider swapping out your current z/OS batch checkpoint products:?

• Exorbitant costs?
• Substandard support?

Exorbitant costs:?

With the continuing rise in inflation, companies running z/OS are taking a hard look at their portfolios to simplify solution stacks and find cost savings wherever possible. But software vendors are still holding them hostage with excessive licensing and maintenance fees, with little to no software enhancements and very poor technical support.?Many vendors have increased their prices dramatically. For some companies, the prices were already too high. ?

One of the easiest ways to achieve cost savings is to switch to Db2 Checkpoint for your batch processing. We have been able to swap out other vendor batch checkpoint products with Db2 Checkpoint for customers to drive cost savings of 80+%.???

Substandard support:?

Software vendors have been acquired and reacquired multiple times in the mainframe space. Each time a product is acquired, not only does the cost go up, but many knowledgeable personnel leave.? What was the response time and resolution time of your last support call? Considering that batch restart products are usually part of mission-critical applications, was your vendor’s response commensurate with the critical nature of your application??

What Does It Take: Cost & Time to Swap Out?

Changing batch application restart solutions does not have to be an intimidating task. Depending on what you have, many products can be swapped out with simple JCL changes. Others can use either a source conversion tool (SCT) or swap the pre-compiler for ours after making JCL changes.??

The point is that the task is not as daunting as you might think.? We are here to help every step of the way. We’ve been able to help a European government authority save over a million dollars a year in support fees. Additionally, a US-based insurance company has benefitted greatly from our legendary support.??

Join me for a 30-minute live session on Tuesday, August 9, 2022, at 1 pm EDT to see how easy and low risk a swap out is and the steps you can take. If you’d like to discuss your options or have any questions about the swap out process or pricing, please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] or the support team at [email protected].?