The Dramatic Mainframe Conversion of Mike Wells
Customer Company Size
Large Corporate
Region
- America
Country
- United States
Product
- Compuware Topaz
- Jenkins
- SonarSource
Tech Stack
- Mainframe
- Java
- Agile Development
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Productivity Improvements
- Digital Expertise
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management
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
About The 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.
The 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.
The 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.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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