The mainframe industry is no stranger to market surveys, and a variety of organizations aim to determine trends and attitudes using regular market inquiries. A brand-new market survey, instigated by mainframe software specialists PopUp Mainframe, recently set about augmenting established market insights with a fresh look at different perspectives from leaders of mainframe organizations.
Conducted by Vanson Bourne, a global research and analysis company, the survey asked leading practitioners and IT executives from the UK and North America about the strategic importance of the IBM mainframe to their business, current challenges and future needs, as well as their development toolchains and resources.
As the CMO of PopUp Mainframe, I’ve seen how the entire mainframe community benefits from investment in market research. At PopUp Mainframe, we sought to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges that mainframe development and delivery teams encounter. We wanted to know what’s stopping even successful teams from being even better. We wanted to learn the truth of the unspoken challenges those teams face – to get a reality check of where things can be improved.
We wanted to learn the truth of the unspoken challenges those teams face – to get a reality check of where things can be improved.
Survey Highlights
1. Confidence in Mainframe and Linux on Z Remains High
As an important level-set, we wanted to determine attitudes toward the platform, including towards the Linux environment on the mainframe.
The results highlighted strong support: loyalty to the mainframe remains strong, with 98% reporting that they rely on it to execute the business, while 99% of respondents “will continue to rely on the IBM mainframe for the foreseeable future”.
Regarding Linux, 94% responded as having “the potential to leverage additional workload capacity on specialist / Linux environments on Z”, while 97% confirmed they were “actively seeking” to “make increased use” of specialist processors on the mainframe.
2. Access Gaps and Delivery Silos Persist
We examined how many respondents face challenges accessing mainframe environments and navigating operational complexity. When asked whether they require additional mainframe environments to perform their work, 88% stated their “existing environments do not fully meet their mainframe delivery needs”, with over a third (34%) stating they “urgently require more environments”.
When asked whether they require additional mainframe environments to perform their work, 88% stated their “existing environments do not fully meet their mainframe delivery needs”, with over a third (34%) stating they “urgently require more environments”.
Asked how many separate teams were involved in mainframe deliveries, 69% said there were 3 or more, and 30% said four or more separate teams were involved in the process.
3. Strategic Needs Are Clearly Identified
Nearly all respondents (96%) of respondents reported challenges affecting mainframe development and testing activities. Of the key challenges faced by mainframe development teams, high cost and inefficiency (39%), lack of flexibility (39%), inability to meet sustainability goals (38%), and difficulties in testing/debugging mainframe applications (38%), were cited most frequently.
4. Key Barriers to Improvement Revealed
Further questioning explored which issues respondents considered most critical – and whether they believed improvements were needed to address them.
- 84% said implementing mainframe change in a shorter timeframe was very or critically important to their organization – and 81% said improvements were needed
- 86% said improving the flexibility/agility of mainframe deliveries was very or critically important to their organization – and 86% said improvements were needed
- 83% said the ability to meet regulatory and data compliance requirements was very or critically important to their organization – and 82% said improvements were needed
- 85% said greater cost efficiency was very or critically important to their organization – and 90% said improvements were needed
- 79% said the ability to delivery on IT-related sustainability objectives was very or critically important to their organization – and 86% said improvements were needed
5. Skills and Tools Usage Vary Widely
The survey looked at other potential hindrances for respondents to achieve their business objectives. The prevailing key factors? Staffing limitations and inadequate tooling were cited as key factors (both 79%).
More specifically, skills availability challenges were identified with specific mainframe technologies, with COBOL (24%), REXX (30%), and Assembler (27%) being reported as suffering with “low” or “no” skills in that domain.
Elsewhere, newer technologies, including modern IDEs (93%), modern agile tools (e.g. Git/Jenkins) (90%), were reported by the majority as possessing a good or sufficient skill/knowledge level, however. Further, more traditional mainframe technical skills, such as Db2 (86%), CICS (88%), IMS (91%), and Java (87%) skills, were reported as widely available.
Asked how they are seeking to address any skills shortages, respondents reported a variety of knowledge transfer options. In-house (35%) training was the most popular of the answers, ranking higher than outsourced (31%) or online (34%) alternatives. Almost all (95%) said modern tools and capabilities can help close skill gaps, and 83% noted it eased the recruitment difficulties of graduates/early career individuals.
The PopUp Mainframe Perspective
Regular check-ins with the mainframe market offer the opportunity to stay current with evolving attitudes. The unique line of questioning in this survey, in addition, offers some fresh perspectives.
PopUp Mainframe observed the continued importance of the IBM mainframe to the organization and a strong desire to leverage its latest capabilities—including the Linux environment to deliver greater value.
Despite this, delivering value is hampered by organizational silos and—in a significant number of cases—access to the right environments, tools and skills.
While the mainframe continues to deliver significant benefits, the survey highlights a number of areas where organizations are seeking improvement. Drivers such as sustainability, cost management, speed of delivery, flexibility, and risk/compliance were consistently cited as priority challenges. The data also underscored the importance of having the right skills and tooling in place — key factors that influence delivery capabilities. Together, these findings suggest that while the mainframe remains vital, modernization and operational improvements are top of mind for enterprise leaders.
“As we see the attitudes around mainframe modernization continue to evolve, the platform’s ability to help deliver change rapidly, without risk, and with the right levels of flexibility, remains critical,” said CEO Gary Thornhill. “With 60 years of success and a brand-new model now available, it is no wonder so many organizations see the enduring value of the IBM mainframe. What our survey shows is a reminder that, in an ever-evolving digital world, overcoming important strategic and operational challenges continues to be an imperative for many organizations, and that there remain a variety of difficulties to overcome. The responses suggest to us that how the mainframe is used must evolve to meet these said challenges. Essential is the requirement for organizations to innovate through both tooling and process, with emphasis on cultural change,” he added.
What our survey shows is a reminder that, in an ever-evolving digital world, overcoming important strategic and operational challenges continues to be an imperative for many organizations, and that there remain a variety of difficulties to overcome.
Steven Dickens, CEO & Principal Analyst at HyperFRAME Research, noted, “The mainframe’s powerful capabilities, embodied by the new z17, continue to anchor its market position.” He added, “As enterprises face changing application requirements, they’re leveraging DevOps innovations to drive greater efficiency and value, with PopUp Mainframe emerging as a noteworthy option.”
As enterprises face changing application requirements, they’re leveraging DevOps innovations to drive greater efficiency and value, with PopUp Mainframe emerging as a noteworthy option.
Overall, the survey underscores the strategic importance and practical realities of how mainframe organizations are modernizing their delivery of business value, as they aim to continue to maximize the profound opportunity the platform can provide.
Supporting Information
The survey was commissioned by PopUp Mainframe and conducted by Vanson Bourne, covering 175 executives and decision-makers within organizations across various sectors, including financial services, IT services, energy, insurance, and retail, that run IBM mainframes in the US and the UK.
“This survey allowed for Vanson Bourne to gather valuable data from the mainframe community on the platform’s continued relevance, as well as the forward-looking insights needed for PopUp Mainframe – and the mainframe community at large — to continue shaping the mainframe technology landscape for years to come,” said Katie Haslett, Senior Research Consultant at Vanson Bourne.
The full research report—available at no cost to stakeholders—is now open for pre-order:
https://www.popup-mainframe.com/mainframe-market-survey-2025/
Derek Britton is a COBOL and Modernization commentator, a founding member of the Open Mainframe ProjectCOBOL Working Groupand runs theApplication Modernization Groupon LinkedIn. Connect with him here. With over 30 years in the enterprise software industry, Derek is an accomplished technology marketing leader, writer, and presenter. With software development, marketing, product management, and services experience, Derek regularly commentates across the IT press, and at events such as Gartner, Open Mainframe Project, SHARE, and GSE. Derek holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from De Montfort University.