EXEC I/O

"Housework is something nobody notices unless you don't do it."

"The squeaky wheel gets the grease."

"Out of sight, out of mind."

What do all of these quotes have to do with the mainframe? Two words: It works.

Who'd have ever thought that would be a problem?

Just think: over four decades of building and refining the ultimate business machine, and very few people seem to know or care that it even exists, let alone that it's still effectively running the world economy.

After all, 70% of organizations and governments are still running critical applications on the mainframe per the Butler Group (see http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196900665).

That's a pretty spectacular number for a machine that doesn't appear to exist.

The funny thing is, it actually could have been argued to be a good strategy to keep the mainframe out of sight - less threat of being a target, given how important it is.

The only problem is, the strategy (if that's what it was) worked so well that the management of many organizations that rely on mainframes don't seem to realize its importance either.

And that's a problem - after all, the cost of the mainframe can seem quite large when its value is not apparent.

Fortunately, some of the largest organizations on earth seem to have recognized the value of their mainframes and increased their commitment to this platform in a very big way. That would certainly explain its spectacular growth over the past decade.

But what about the rest of the mainframe world - those organizations that haven't "seen the light"? Often, they've curtailed investment in this "goose that lays the golden egg" and even tried to move to narrower platforms for the sake of perceived savings.

I think the time has come to wake them up. In fact, if the management of an organization doesn't see the value of their mainframe, they don't have the information necessary to run their businesses properly.

So, the question is: who's going to do it?

The answer? Us! You and me. It's time for us to stop being apologetic about the mainframe and stand up and let people know how important and valuable it is - and particularly people who ought to know in order to do their jobs properly.

So, my question for you is: what can you do to help your management appreciate the critical importance of your mainframe to your organization's success?

I look forward to your thoughts!