If the label Big Iron fairly reflects the mainframe’s resilience and strength as a production engine, it also implies an unbending, inflexible environment. Is that fair? And if so, how can we flex the iron?

The mainframe excels at running high-volume, processor-heavy workloads in production and remains the workhorse of choice across many large organizations in numerous industry sectors.

Despite this, many criticize the mainframe for being too rigid to support modern business needs. In one market study, 69% of respondents said mainframe inflexibility limits innovation, while another reported 59% felt the mainframe does not support strategic initiatives well enough.

Flexibility, in our case, requires adjusting plans—making quick decisions and acting on them. In IT terms, flexibility means adopting an agile approach, allowing quick changes and shifting resources to new priorities. In the age of Agile and DevOps, with powerful development tools, advanced mainframe programming capabilities, and integrated environments, businesses now expect flexibility.

Each case varies, shaped by factors like investment levels, resourcing, workload types, change requirements, and integration with hybrid computing and third-party systems. However, since market data highlights challenges, what exactly causes them, and how can we fix them?

Let’s look at the key elements involved.  

Hardware  

A flexible application delivery environment requires readily available processor power. Whether teams install a new tool, test a research concept, code a new feature, or run system tests for urgent deliveries, they need the machine ‘always on’—at any scale. However, many mainframe environments strictly control logical partitions of processor time to prioritize production workloads.

Software 

Similarly, modern toolchains must be accessible whenever teams need them. However, many organizations allocate resources only during scheduled planning cycles instead of on demand.

Data 

Critically, for mainframe change to meet the exacting requirements of the business, it must be validated using appropriate, credible data. However, stringent rules govern the use of live data for testing, and the vast volumes of data involved make testing data selection, retrieval, and complaint usage a resource-intensive process -one that is difficult to do ‘on demand’.  

People
In many large organizations, separate teams handle mainframe application delivery, often divided by location, function, or employer. Companies organize teams based on cost management, skill availability, or operational challenges, which should enable greater flexibility. However, strictly defined responsibilities—sometimes contractually—often limit workload sharing and overall flexibility.

Processes
Many organizations enforce rigorous bureaucracies for mainframe administration and application delivery. Since they monitor and charge for all mainframe resources monthly, every minute of activity undergoes strict tracking. As a result, changing scheduled resource allocations can be difficult—an understandable challenge, given the need for cost management and operational stability.

Time to Beat the Bottlenecks 

Despite recent improvements in mainframe delivery processes, modern businesses must meet growing requirements quickly and flexibly. The recent BMC Mainframe Survey found bottlenecks further down the software delivery pipeline. One of the biggest challenges remains ensuring on-demand access to mainframe resources for development and testing—a major obstacle to agility and innovation.

The PopUp Mainframe Advantage 

While not every company faces these challenges, mainframe inflexibility remains common.

PopUp Mainframe offers an on-demand environment for mainframe development and testing, delivering the flexibility modern businesses need.

This solution empowers customers to meet dynamic business demands with unparalleled flexibility by:

• Providing instantly available mainframe resources (DevOps toolchain, masked data, and a pre-configured mainframe environment) to help IT teams adapt to changing delivery requirements.
• Leveraging an on-demand, instantly available mainframe environment to drive innovation without delay.
• Eliminating rigid processes and siloed teams by simplifying mainframe resource access.

Want to build a more flexible mainframe? Learn what PopUp Mainframe can do for you.

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