A perfect storm is brewing in the mainframe skills market, and companies are not adequately preparing for its arrival.
A combination of a retiring workforce, increased mainframe demands and a lack of succession planning from businesses means many mainframe teams are struggling to keep up with business demands.
This is according to a study by performance management firm Compuware, carried out on its behalf by Vanson Bourne.
It found that over half (56%) believe that mainframe developers are failing to meet the changing needs of the business. At the same time, 69% believe that a lack of change in the mainframe environment is turning IT graduates off from mainframe development. Compuware puts this down to the traditional ‘green screen’ mainframe environment.
These figures are despite the increasing use of cloud computing, which mainframes are often tasked with handling, particularly with regards private clouds.
Results previously released from the same survey revealed that 71% are concerned that the looming mainframe skills shortage will hurt their business, caused by an ageing mainframe workforce that will soon hit retirement age.
Despite this, 46% of CIOs have no plans in place to address mainframe developer shortages. In addition, high acquisition costs (60%), complex integration (54%) and high training and implementation costs (45%) are preventing businesses from modernising the mainframe environment, the Compuware survey said.
Kris Manery, senior vice president and general manager of the mainframe solutions business unit at Compuware, said this perfect storm is leaving businesses facing a skills shortage that will ultimately make them less efficient.
"Businesses are supporting new technologies like mobility and cloud computing at record pace, forcing mainframe teams to contend with the added workload of quickly and successfully integrating new applications with legacy mainframe applications," he said.
"This rise in mainframe development coupled with a lack of new developers – a trend we call the ‘New Normal of Mainframe’ – puts teams at risk of becoming less effective in supporting the applications that are critical to today’s world economy," Manery added.
The study surveyed 520 CIOs at organisations with over 1,000 employees. It included 100 CIOs each from the UK, France, Germany and the US as well as 30 each in Italy, Benelux, Japan and Australia.
