Help Defining DB2's Business Value

Every now and then those of us working on mainframe platforms are confronted by folks who are looking to eliminate mainframes. This can happen for any number of reasons. Maybe the confronter view mainframes as “old technology,” or “mainframes are too costly,” or some other trumped up charge. Too often, however, we respond to such claims emotionally instead of with reason and knowledge.

Fortunately, IBM has come up with some help for those of us working with DB2 for z/OS. IBM has published – and made available for free download – a great little manual titled The Business Value of DB2 for z/OS. In this book you can learn all about the ROI that mainframe DB2 can offer your organization. Instead of all of those technical details that DBAs tend to savor, this document will assist you in analyzing and communicating the many business benefits provided by the combination of DB2 running on z/OS.

The book covers topics such as up-to-date details on how DB2 can integrate with, and enable sharing of information across multiple platforms. It discusses how the mainframe scales to manage large volumes of data. And the manual also describes how IBM’s on-going “on demand” initiative has improved the manageability of DB2.

If you use DB2 for z/OS, you should download a copy of this redbook. It is free, after all. And the next time that someone challenges the mainframe as an on-going, viable platform for business computing you will have a powerful, unemotional tool to help battle that misconception.