Building for the future requires a new strategy to meet today’s digital challenges and a faster pace of change. For most organizations with core business systems written in COBOL or running on the mainframe, this means modernization to the cloud.  Ed Airey, Product Marketing Director at Open Text, explores why modernization matters now and how the latest Open text AMC product releases enable innovation and a smarter application modernization journey. 

Now is the time.

Modernization matters now, more than ever.  As businesses re-start and re-tool, the lessons from the pandemic are still fresh in the minds of many IT leaders.  Delay is no longer a safe and suitable strategy for digital transformation projects. Inertia is not only too costly but also crippling to core business operations. IT leaders have new motivation to accelerate IT transformation plans and put them into motion—today.  According to a recent Vanson Bourne study, over 70% of organizations plan to modernize their core business applications.

Modernization Means Business

For organizations with COBOL and mainframe applications, IT transformation often means Cloud.  The move to cloud, and other new platforms, requires careful planning and preparation.  For most enterprise shops, this also means striking the right balance between cost, risk, and time to market.  By leveraging one’s competitive advantage – their core business applications, processes, and data, modernization becomes possible, but also pragmatic.  This isn’t a rewrite or replacement of what you have, but rather a re-use and re-purpose of what already works. Application modernization through re-use is seen as a more practical approach to digital transformation by top research firms including Gartner and the Standish Group and as quickly become the go-to strategy for many enterprise hops that wish to deliver new value quickly while managing cost and risk. 

9.0 Delivers New Innovations

As part of the Open Text Cloud Editions 23.3 launch, these latest releases of Micro Focus Enterprise Suite and Micro Focus Visual COBOL enable that modernization journey.  These new product offerings deliver even greater support for modern COBOL development and mainframe modernization and support the need for new COBOL skills as expressed by many IT leaders.

For example, new COBOL language syntax and programming constructs such as parameterized sections and Java Interop enable a more familiar application development experience and easier integration with Java.  A brand-new Micro Focus COBOL Fundamentals course enables new developers to learn COBOL in just 1 day.  The courseware delivers video-based instruction, hands on tutorials and a free community-based product for COBOL development.   New unit testing tools within Enterprise Suite delivers powerful tools for enterprise application development alongside Agile, CI and DevSecOps processes.  Plus, a new technical preview of the popular Micro Focus Enterprise Analyzer toolset enables new Linux platform support and a cloud-ready path to deployment.  These are just a few of the many ways in which these latest AMC product releases from Open Text can help you modernize now.

Looking for More?

We’ve just brushed the surface of what’s possible within the latest releases of AMC technology within Micro Focus Visual COBOL and Micro Focus Enterprise Suite 9.0.  If you’re looking for more, check out this new Visual COBOL 9.0 look book and new Enterprise Suite 9.0 look book for more information.  From datasheets to product documentation, you’ll find a wealth of product release and information to get your started.

Take the Course

Interested in Learning COBOL?  Or perhaps curious about what the course has to offer.  Take the new Micro Focus COBOL Fundamentals Course.  It’s free and all the resources are there for you.  Plus, upon completion, you’ll receive a digital badge and certification that you can proudly promote on your favorite social media channel.

Learn COBOL in just 1 Day.  Register Today.

Questions?

Have any specific questions about these latest product releases or perhaps need to chat with a technical expert?  Visit our AMC community pages for Enterprise Developer and Visual COBOL. Post your questions.  Our panel of experts will be glad to help you.