Building on the learnings from a recent EMA survey on mainframe modernization initiatives, we discuss where these initiatives fit into enterprise activities and what automation teams should consider when involved in these efforts.
Key Ideas
- Business transformation and technology portfolio modernization efforts are occurring in many organizations
- These initiatives have become a core part of how businesses evolve to meet customer expectations and grow into new markets
- In the past, many technology teams took an incremental "just enough modernization" approach to limit costs and risk, however, this can be insufficient where dramatic business process changes are needed
- Mainframes and other aging systems are commonly identified as bottlenecks to achieving the targeted customer experience and related business goals, requiring modernization or replacement to enable the initiative's objectives
- Enterprise automation is an integral part of these modernization efforts, maintaining existing process flows through the legacy system while establishing new workflows for the targeted process changes

Takeaways for Automation Leaders
- Automation teams are expected to maintain existing service levels on existing workflows while the business processes are evolving into their new form
- Consider modernization as an ongoing business activity that the automation team participates in rather than a one-time project
- Develop a playbook that can be applied to each modernization effort, and invest in building the skills of your team to become valuable contributors to these efforts.