Is “Agile” a bad word in your mainframe shop? If so, you are not alone. Mainframe DBAs and Developers have long used the waterfall method for application development. In today’s fast-paced world, though, the waterfall method is too slow for consumers. Companies must compete in a market where consumers are expecting their apps to be updated instantly and continuously. If applications are not updated at least every month or aren’t available, customers will assume something is wrong and take their business elsewhere.
The only constant in agile development is change, which presents a big challenge for Mainframe DBAs whose role is to ensure reliability, stability, and availability. The “Velocity Gap” (the time between application releases and the time it takes to make database changes) is growing wider and slowing businesses down as the rate and scale of application development expands. In many cases, it could take weeks or even months to roll out a database change that an application developer needs to move forward today. How can this process be improved? How can we have speed and reliability at the same time?
Recently, BMC hosted a webinar, “Struggling to Incorporate the Mainframe into your Agile Development Process?”, in which we discussed how to integrate the mainframe into agile development processes by utilizing Automated Mainframe Intelligence (AMI) solutions that:
- Reduce the velocity gap and support accelerated innovation
- Maintain the availability and stability of the mainframe environment
- Improve the application development process between App Developers and Mainframe DBAs
During the webinar, participants also heard from Steven Goedertier, a Db2 DBA at Colruyt Group. Colruyt is a large European retail corporation and an early BMC AMI DevOps for Db2 adopter. They have started their journey towards agile application development using BMC’s AMI for DevOps for Db2 and shared their experiences with the solution during the webinar.
Per Mr. Goedertier, Colruyt is now able to “react to market evolution”. Furthermore, he noted that BMC AMI DevOps for Db2 has enabled Colruyt DBAs and app developers to have “a shared responsibility to get your change from unit test to production” and has delivered “a positive impact on the way you get to do your job”.
To discover how you can experience the same positive impact in your mainframe shop, contact BMC to find out more about BMC’s AMI DevOps for Db2.
These postings are my own and do not necessarily represent BMC's position, strategies, or opinion.
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