Dan Burger
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Database Modernization: Methodology To Solve Problems
November 6, 2017 Dan Burger
Innovation is a combination of tools and processes. Big mistakes get made when there is too much emphasis on the tools and too little on the processes. Innovation in a can, a bottle or a box isn’t reality-based strategy, although it’s often thought of that way, particularly at the executive level where the goal of competitive advantage is sometimes tied to specific products and technologies.
Tools and processes support innovation. They aren’t the innovation. Not at the individual business level where competitive advantage is differentiated and honed with years of experience. Too often experience is discounted or even disregarded when …
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IBM i Vendor Breaks Into Gartner Magic Quadrant
November 1, 2017 Dan Burger
Finding an IBM i software vendor in the Gartner Magic Quadrant is sort of like finding a four-leaf clover. It doesn’t happen very often and it feels like a lucky day when you do. Last week, ARCAD Software made it into the coveted quad in the Application Release Automation category.
ARCAD, which considers DevOps the centerpiece of its software business, has expanded from what was once a more narrowly defined application change management software developer servicing the IBM midrange market. The IBM i customer base still represents 95 percent of ARCAD’s business; however, its software support has expanded to include …
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Four Hundred Monitor, November 1
November 1, 2017 Dan Burger
Most IBM i shops are comfortable being one or two releases behind the latest IBM i operating system. But for those on i 7.1, it’s time to plan your next move. If you are on something older than 7.1, you should be drinking stronger coffee. You may have your reasons for staying where you are, but in this issue of Monitor we’re pointing you to some reasons to upgrade.
We also have an article that will get under the skin of relational database advocates, plus some Watson integration with IBM i insights, and a link to an IBM i video …
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Navigator For IBM i On A Zigzag Journey
October 30, 2017 Dan Burger
Navigator for IBM i provides system administrators with tools that prevent them from losing their marbles, or at least delaying that outcome until the boss mentions that grounds maintenance and window washing have been added to the list of sys admin responsibilities.
Navigator continues to receive updates and enhancements, mostly based on filling in holes in the features and functionality that the product it replaced already possessed. IBM also takes requests from current users, which also find their way into future enhancement. But for the unskilled user trying to climb the learning curve, Navigator can be a frustrating stumble from …
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Cloud-Based Digital Signature Service Arrives
October 25, 2017 Dan Burger
The widespread adoption of e-commerce and its benefit of improved workflow has led to the increased use of electronic signature capture. Return on investment (ROI) from shortening transaction times has grabbed the attention of businesses in many industries. Legal and security concerns — addressed by legislation such as the ESIGN Act and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act — have eased the minds of many who were wary when electronic signature capture was new.
Power i4 Solution, a small, Connecticut-based custom software company with the majority of its business in the rental equipment field, has followed the e-signature orientation by …
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Four Hundred Monitor, October 25
October 25, 2017 Dan Burger
IBM is one of the tech industry’s leading companies when it comes to moving jobs overseas. Low salaries, not the availability of a technically superior workforce, is the reason. Certainly, IBM is not the only company with this strategic initiative. It’s a sign of the profound change sweeping across many U.S. industries. Read more about this in the Rochester Post Bulletin editorial. A link is in this week’s Monitor.
Jobs are not only being shipped overseas, but many of them that remain here are changing considerably. CIOs are seeing and feeling the effects of disruptive technology. Jobs are being …
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A Skills Shortage Solution Alert
October 23, 2017 Dan Burger
Employee development doesn’t get the credit it deserves when it comes to talent acquisition. Putting the right people in the right place and giving them the right tools is not a new concept. Many of the top programmers work for companies where this concept has been in place for years. They are homegrown. It follows a pattern: Hire programmers with useful skill sets and if that doesn’t include modern RPG, train them.
The steep green-screen learning curve and natural tendency for young developers to resist the old fixed format RPG isn’t really a factor with modern free format RPG and …
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Continuous Improvement: Within Reach, Without Fear
October 18, 2017 Dan Burger
There are relatively few companies with end-to-end operations that actually achieve the goal of continuous improvement. It tends to be more of a slogan than a policy for most. And it’s easily recognizable with a glimpse of the IT department. Cutting edge isn’t mandatory, but the stakes have never been higher for those that lag or, through inaction or other poor decisions, make costly mistakes — some quickly realized and others of the ticking time bomb variety.
Keeping an IT department moving forward is no sure bet, but it helps when the company commitment to persistent progress is more than …
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Four Hundred Monitor, October 18
October 18, 2017 Dan Burger
It doesn’t take a detective to find the visual and behavioral clues that connect mainframe and IBM i professionals and their IT environments. There’s an aging workforce, a skills depletion, and a deepening concern about modernization. Author Don Denoncourt has been knee-deep (perhaps deeper) in both environments and he has some advice about steps that need to be taken. See the top story in Monitor this week.
Also in Monitor this week . . . taking a hard look at your IT deficiencies, finding IT leaders among C-level executives, and paying more attention to the future of mobile computing. Keep …
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Java On IBM i: A Developing Situation
October 16, 2017 Dan Burger
IBM i developers in the Java camp have some changes in store as Java 9 replaces Java 8. First of all, there will be no IBM i support for Java 9. This break in tradition may come as a surprise for many IBM i developers, but not for those Java-holics who have been closely watching the Java 9 news. There are a couple of reasons IBM has decided not to support Java 9 on IBM i, even though IBM currently supports Java 7 and Java 8 and it has supported every Java release seemingly since Moby Dick was a minnow. …
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