BMC Case Studies The Dramatic Mainframe Conversion of Mike Wells

Edit This Case Study Record

	The Dramatic Mainframe Conversion of Mike Wells BMC

The Dramatic Mainframe Conversion of Mike Wells

BMC

Technology Category	Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Middleware, SDKs & Libraries
Applicable Industries	Finance & Insurance
Applicable Functions	Discrete Manufacturing Product Research & Development
Use Cases	Manufacturing System Automation Predictive Maintenance
Services	Software Design & Engineering Services System Integration
Challenge	Mike Wells, the Director of Software Development at Ameritas, a mutual life and health insurer with $35.6 billion in assets, was tasked with helping the company achieve competitive advantage in an increasingly digital marketplace. However, he faced a significant challenge. The majority of Wells’ software development experience was on distributed platforms; yet about 70% of his developer workforce at Ameritas was mainframe focused. Coming from a background where automation and visibility were at the forefront of every Java developer, he realized that this presented a challenge in the mainframe arena. Wells was skeptical about whether their tools and processes could provide the speed and agility Ameritas needed to thrive in a fast moving digital marketplace. Read More
About Customer	Ameritas is a mutual life and health insurer with $35.6 billion in assets. The company was looking to achieve competitive advantage in an increasingly digital marketplace. However, about 70% of its developer workforce was mainframe focused, which presented a challenge in terms of speed and agility. The company needed to modernize its development processes on the mainframe and adopt better processes and tools to empower its developers to work in the same Agile manner across languages and platforms. This would allow Ameritas to better fulfill its ambitious mission while avoiding the cost, disruption and risk of re-platforming its mainframe applications and data. Read More
Solution	Wells had a revelation that the tools and processes that provided the world’s Java teams with automation, visibility and insight into code quality could also help modernize development processes on the mainframe. By aggressively adopting better processes and better tools, he and Ameritas have rapidly become leading practitioners of mainframe “mainstreaming”—which empowers developers to work in the same Agile manner across languages and platforms. As a result, Ameritas can better fulfill its ambitious mission while avoiding the cost, disruption and risk of re-platforming its mainframe applications and data. Wells is also driving significant increases in developer productivity and software quality. Wells’ primary partner in his mainframe efforts is Compuware, which provides him with technology, insights and a listening ear for his innovative ideas. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Middleware, SDKs & Libraries

Applicable Industries

Finance & Insurance

Applicable Functions

Discrete Manufacturing

Product Research & Development

Use Cases

Manufacturing System Automation

Predictive Maintenance

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services

System Integration

Challenge

Mike Wells, the Director of Software Development at Ameritas, a mutual life and health insurer with $35.6 billion in assets, was tasked with helping the company achieve competitive advantage in an increasingly digital marketplace. However, he faced a significant challenge. The majority of Wells’ software development experience was on distributed platforms; yet about 70% of his developer workforce at Ameritas was mainframe focused. Coming from a background where automation and visibility were at the forefront of every Java developer, he realized that this presented a challenge in the mainframe arena. Wells was skeptical about whether their tools and processes could provide the speed and agility Ameritas needed to thrive in a fast moving digital marketplace.

About Customer

Ameritas is a mutual life and health insurer with $35.6 billion in assets. The company was looking to achieve competitive advantage in an increasingly digital marketplace. However, about 70% of its developer workforce was mainframe focused, which presented a challenge in terms of speed and agility. The company needed to modernize its development processes on the mainframe and adopt better processes and tools to empower its developers to work in the same Agile manner across languages and platforms. This would allow Ameritas to better fulfill its ambitious mission while avoiding the cost, disruption and risk of re-platforming its mainframe applications and data.

Solution

Wells had a revelation that the tools and processes that provided the world’s Java teams with automation, visibility and insight into code quality could also help modernize development processes on the mainframe. By aggressively adopting better processes and better tools, he and Ameritas have rapidly become leading practitioners of mainframe “mainstreaming”—which empowers developers to work in the same Agile manner across languages and platforms. As a result, Ameritas can better fulfill its ambitious mission while avoiding the cost, disruption and risk of re-platforming its mainframe applications and data. Wells is also driving significant increases in developer productivity and software quality. Wells’ primary partner in his mainframe efforts is Compuware, which provides him with technology, insights and a listening ear for his innovative ideas.

Impact #1	Ameritas was able to avoid the cost, disruption and risk of re-platforming its mainframe applications and data.
Impact #2	Significant increases in developer productivity and software quality were achieved.
Impact #3	Ameritas was able to better fulfill its ambitious mission.

Impact #1

Ameritas was able to avoid the cost, disruption and risk of re-platforming its mainframe applications and data.

Impact #2

Significant increases in developer productivity and software quality were achieved.

Impact #3

Ameritas was able to better fulfill its ambitious mission.

Benefit #1	70% of the developer workforce at Ameritas was able to transition from mainframe focus to a more agile development process.
Benefit #2	Compuware was able to deliver new solutions and integrations that support Ameritas’ mainframe mainstreaming strategy every 90 days.
Benefit #3	In one case, Compuware turned one of Wells’ suggestions into a commercially available solution within five months.

Benefit #1

70% of the developer workforce at Ameritas was able to transition from mainframe focus to a more agile development process.

Benefit #2

Compuware was able to deliver new solutions and integrations that support Ameritas’ mainframe mainstreaming strategy every 90 days.

Benefit #3

In one case, Compuware turned one of Wells’ suggestions into a commercially available solution within five months.

Download PDF Version

Overview

The Dramatic Mainframe Conversion of Mike Wells

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit