Is Your AI Modernization Tool a Match? Take the Quiz

A 5-Minute Quiz to Cut Through the Hype

Mainframes remain pillars of the global digital economy, clearing transactions, securing data, and keeping industries like banking, insurance, and healthcare running 24/7. While the hardware stays rock-solid, the legacy software—COBOL, PL/I, RPG—often limits agility in an increasingly cloud-native world.

Enter AI-powered code transformation tools. Instead of rewriting legacy systems from scratch, AI modernization solutions can convert decades-old code into modern languages like Java or C#, preserving critical business logic while speeding time-to-market.

Sounds perfect, right? Here’s the reality: the modernization market is crowded with vendors, all claiming to offer the fastest, safest, smartest path forward. Some deliver. Others don’t. And a glossy feature list won’t reveal which AI modernization tool fits your organization best.

That’s why we built a simple quiz. In just five minutes, it helps you cut through marketing hype and identify what truly matters in your mainframe modernization journey so that you can evaluate tools based on real priorities, not buzzwords.

The Quiz: What’s Your Modernization Priority?

Answer these seven quick questions. Don’t overthink them.

1. What’s your language challenge?

1. Complex: Moving from obscure languages like NATURAL or RPG
2. Significant: Modernizing COBOL or PL/I to Java or C#
3. Straightforward: Upgrading versions or using well-supported paths

2. How tightly must new code fit your development pipeline?

1. Zero disruption: Must integrate seamlessly with CI/CD
2. Important: Needs solid pipeline compatibility, even with some setup
3. Optional: IDE integration is enough

3. What’s your testing safety net?

1. Critical: Need AI to generate tests due to poor coverage
2. Strong: Require automated testing (unit, regression, integration)
3. Manageable: Manual validation is acceptable

4. How sensitive is your data?

1. Highly sensitive: PII, financial, HIPAA/GDPR-level compliance
2. Secure: In-cloud with standard compliance needs
3. Low risk: Internal or low-classification data

5. How tangled is your business logic?

1. Very: Monolithic, poorly documented—needs AI to modularize
2. Moderate: Complex but understandable—needs preservation
3. Minimal: Already modular and documented

6. What’s your cost tolerance?

1. Minimal: Open-source or low-cost tools only
2. Balanced: Willing to invest for value
3. Cautious: Cost and vendor lock-in are major concerns

7. How much AI assistance do you expect?

1. Extensive: AI should debug, trace, and explain legacy code
2. Advanced: AI should profile and validate equivalent behavior
3. Basic: Syntax fixes and suggestions are enough

Making Sense of Your Answers

Each response highlights a key AI modernization KPI for your organization:

• Language complexity
• Pipeline integration
• Testing and validation
• Security and compliance
• Business logic extraction
• Cost and learning curve
• AI assistance level
  

These dimensions map directly to the KPIs used in modern AI transformation frameworks. Instead of comparing tools on marketing claims, evaluate them on what actually matters in your environment.

Read more on the KPI Driven Framework (Section 5) here in my White Paper.

From Quiz to Framework

Here’s how to translate your quiz results into a practical evaluation framework:

1. Rate potential tools from 0 to 10 for each KPI.
   
2. Assign weights to each KPI based on importance.
   
3. Calculate a weighted score to compare AI modernization tools objectively.

This KPI-based scorecard creates a simple, repeatable process to cut through vendor noise and focus on measurable fit—balancing technical capability with business goals.

Alternatively, we built an interactive version of this framework that allows you to plug in your quiz answers, assign weights, and instantly see which AI modernization tool ranks highest for your needs. Try it.

Final Thought

Modernization isn’t one-size-fits-all. The “best” tool on paper might not be the best match for your modernization priorities.

By answering seven quick questions and translating them into a KPI-driven scorecard, you’ll gain a clear view and learn about AI that gets you to success without detours.

Before your next vendor demo, take the quiz, use the framework, and see your options ranked.
Your ideal AI modernization tool could be just seven questions away.

Misty Decker shares why mainframe modernization is “the climate change” for IT.