Is It Worth Investing in IBM i and RPG?

August 21, 2024 Alex Woodie

Nobody is mistaking the IBM i server as a brand-new system. It can’t hide from its status as a legacy platform. But does that mean that it’s no longer worth investing in IBM i and RPG? That’s the focus of a new paper by the outsourcing company DDC FPO.

DDC FPO is an Evergreen, Colorado-based business process outsourcing company that serves the trucking industry and specializes in things like freight billing and customer service for truckers. Considering the continued popularity of the IBM i server in the trucking business, it’s not surprising that DDC has taken an interest in the platform.

Recently, DDC published a nine-page paper titled “The Complete Guide to IBM i: Is it worth continuing to invest?” The premise of the paper is straightforward: While the platform continues to deliver business benefits, are those benefits offset by the challenges that it faces, such as the skills gap, cost, modernization, and “stakeholder resistance”?

“In our highly digitized world, new technology emerges every day. But are the latest platforms and tools always the best available?” the company writes in its introduction. “Dismissing legacy systems that have powered businesses for decades can be tempting in a rush to embrace new innovations. One system frequently targeted by this pro-innovation bias is IBM i.”

High update and stability are two of the biggest benefits that DDC ascribes to the IBM i. Its integrated design helps to deliver greater reliability compared to what other platforms can deliver, the company says.

Click on image to download DDC FPO’s report.

Scalability is another plus factor in the platform’s favor, according to DDC’s paper. The IBM i’s single-level storage reduces technical complexity while allowing customers to store large amounts of data. The platform’s security and data protection features, meanwhile, make it an attractive place to store sensitive data.

The large number of shrink-wrapped applications are another plus, DDC says, while its capability to integrate with newer technologies, including ones available in the cloud, means that users can stay up-to-date as new computing trends emerge.

However, there are also a number of challenges to running IBM i, chief among them the skills gap. Specifically, DDC identifies a lack of RPG and CL knowledge as impacting the platform and its users.

“As the education system focuses on newer programming languages,” the company writes, “many experts in RPG are entering retirement, compounding the skills gap issue. This makes it difficult – and costly – for organizations to find and hire suitable candidates to maintain and develop applications on the IBM i platform.”

The lack of RPG education spurred DDC to build its own skills academy. It launched the program earlier this year to train programmers in the Philippines capitol of Manila who are skilled in RPG, CL, SQL and other programming languages used on the platform.

Cost is the second big obstacle to IBM i success, DDC says. From the cost of hardware and software license or subscription fees to the personnel costs of IBM i programmers and operators, costs abound. “An efficient IBM i system does require investment,” the company says.

Application modernization is another challenge faced by IBM i shops. In particular, the potential to open up security holes in a system by adopting API is something that IBM i shops should carefully weigh in their modernization plans.

The final obstacle working against IBM i, DDC says, is stakeholder resistance. In particular, employees who find the IBM i’s green-screen interface “outdated and irrelevant” may mistakenly assume that the system lacks any benefits.

“To change how stakeholders think about IBM i, educate them about its benefits, highlighting the system’s reliability, security, and efficiency,” the company says. “As with any other technology change, clearly explain all ongoing modernization efforts, so stakeholders understand the ‘why’ behind them.”

There are plusses and minuses to working with IBM i, as there are with every platform. However, when you add it all up, there’s plenty of upside to working with the platform, even if some of the misconceptions remain.

“’Old vs. new’ is often a false dichotomy that fails to recognize the nuances of IT systems and how they align with various business needs,” the company writes. “The value of IBM i as a secure, scalable, tried-and-true platform cannot be underestimated, and its age doesn’t make it obsolete. IBM i can live alongside – and integrate with – newer systems, empowering businesses to continue building success on its rock-solid foundation.”

You can download the DDC FPC report here.

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