Guest-written by Stephen Elliot, Group Vice President, IDC
What’s behind customer experience? A very simple question, with a not-so-obvious answer. There’s a lot going on in how the customer experiences a brand in combination with a product, service, or solution. For businesses, answering this question requires answering many more questions. It is fair to say the customer is a good place to start. Figure that out, first. Get it wrong and the rest becomes less important. But the rest is still important in every case. In today’s world, it’s tech that enables the business and the people to make the difference. It all adds up to what we find commonplace in enterprises today: digital transformation. It's on everyone's agenda.
Let me start this with an assertion. When it comes to tech that enables business, the mainframe, the big iron, is central. Yes, the venerable mainframe. This is an easy argument to make knowing that 70% of the world’s business applications and data reside on the platform. Plus, the growth in capacity and workload on the platform is undeniable over the past years.
However, mainframe technology is just one ingredient in the recipe for the delivery of a great customer experience. To expand customer value and accelerate business outcomes from mainframe software, the relationship between the software provider and the client must be considered. Two things are needed to further this relationship to achieve the desired results. The first is a mainframe partnership with related on-ramps that offer the opportunity to increase business value across people, processes, and technology. The second is a modern customer engagement model between supplier and customer based on value realization through a deep, continuous, personalized relationship developed to drive speed and agility for both business and technology leaders.
Broadcom is among those vendors investing in the client/vendor relationship for mainframes. For example, its mainframe software division works in multiple ways to enable customer value that goes “Beyond Code.”
At Broadcom Software’s Investor Day briefing, the company discussed its Beyond Code vision. Several programs in particular address key areas that can help deliver significant value to organizations.
The Vitality Program is a Broadcom initiative that helps to hire, train, and place the next generation of mainframe talent. At its core, the program is an innovative skills development program that empowers mainframe staff training at low to no cost. Broadcom partners with customer organizations to attract and grow mainframe talent. The company has partnered with clients and in total trained nearly 100 residents.
Mainframe licensing has traditionally been complex and opaque, requiring specialized skills to understand. Broadcom’s Mainframe Consumption Licensing (MCL) Program allows for flexibility, transparency, and predictability. Like cell phone plans, the Program allows customers to carry over unused MSU capacity to the following year. In addition, MCL offers unlimited use of the company’s tools for development and test activities at no additional cost.
Change window events are a constant concern for IT operations teams. The Expert Change Planning program is a no-cost service where Broadcom experts conduct a comprehensive review of an organization’s upgrade plans -- whether it’s a hardware or software upgrade. Broadcom claims it can significantly reduce the likelihood of Sev-1 incidents through this pre-planning service.
Software rationalization and modernization require a compelling ROI and a faster time to value. Broadcom customers have access to an investment program called Win-No-Fee. Through this program, Broadcom invests so customers can drive change within their organization. Their service methodology consists of collaborative planning and execution services, leveraging automated conversion tools designed to mitigate risk, accelerate time to value, and save on conversion costs.
The scale and pace of business change will continue to accelerate due to competitive pressures and rising customer demands. As mainframe technology architectures are part of the business infrastructure for driving growth and innovation, CIOs and their teams must deliver high business returns and continuously accelerate value from their chosen technology platforms. IT leadership teams can drive their company's business strategy in part by becoming business partners and translating business goals into technology requirements throughout the customer journey.