Survey reveals a startling shortage of mainframe skills in the UK

June 16, 2009 - PRLog -- DITTON PARK, UK-A survey commissioned by CA , the world’s leading independent provider of IT management software, has revealed a startling shortfall in mainframe skills among the UK workforce.  

Entitled The Mainframe: Surviving and Thriving in a Turbulent World, the study showed that 83% of UK respondents – compared with the European average of 66% – believe mainframe users are suffering or will suffer the effects of a shrinking workforce holding the relevant skills.

Offering a ray of hope, 35% agreed that a web-oriented graphical user interface (GUI) would enable less-experienced IT staff to narrow the skills gap.  

In fact, 43% of UK respondents reported a focus on mainframe skills training to address the shortfall, compared with 33% of European counterparts, while 25% say their organisations are outsourcing certain activities.

These findings illustrate the point that UK organisations using the mainframe as a connected resource within the distributed, web-enabled enterprise place special emphasis on particular benefits compared with other European users.

In the UK, the survey found that where the mainframe acts as a fully-connected resource – as opposed to a disconnected, comparatively isolated mainframe environment – 81% say that “disaster recovery and emergency management are extremely efficient”, compared with a European average of 45%. Similarly, 78% reckon performance levels are “excellent”, compared with a European average of 63%, while 78% in the UK say “centralised management is relatively easy”, compared with a European average of 45%.

James O’Malley, CA’s  Mainframe Sales VP for the UK and Ireland said: “For many organisations, the mainframe remains the strategic platform of choice for the next generation of enterprise computing. It is apparent that organisations using the mainframe as a fully-connected resource as part of a web-enabled enterprise experience significantly greater benefits than those with a disconnected, comparatively isolated mainframe environment.”


Additionally, only 23% in the UK agree that “the mainframe is too much of a standalone device”, compared with the much higher European average of 54% demonstrating the interconnectedness of the mainframe to the rest of the organization.

As well as highlighting the value of the mainframe in a connected infrastructure, the survey finds conclusive proof that mainframe users in the UK experience a disproportionately low total cost of ownership compared with other countries. The percentage of annual IT budget spent by on the mainframe UK organisations is 13% – the lowest of any of the European countries surveyed. Germany spends 24% of annual IT budget on the mainframe, the Nordics 22%, Benelux 20%, France 18% and Italy 15%.

On the security front, the survey reveals that 71% of organisations in the UK believe a mainframe-centric infrastructure to be more secure than the server-centric equivalent. This compares with 68% of all European organisations. When asked why the mainframe is such a valuable resource in an organisation, 81% in the UK against the European average of 48% highlighted disaster recovery, 78% in the UK against 63% cited performance, 78% in the UK against 45% identified centralised management and 74% in the UK against 65% highlighted security.

O’Malley added: “Organisations recommitting to the mainframe are finding a unique mixture of manageability, reliability, scalability and security – not to mention low per-transaction costs. They are realising that the mainframe is the asset best equipped to handle these challenges, while providing ample flexibility for growth and business innovation.”

The Mainframe: Surviving and Thriving in a Turbulent World was commissioned by CA and conducted by the respected international Vanson Bourne research organisation. A total of 180 interviews were carried out during February and March 2009 among IT directors and senior IT managers. The sample comprised 40 respondents in each of the UK, France, and Germany, and 20 in each of Italy, Benelux and the Nordics.

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