Case Study: Navigating Mainframe Transformation with an Iterative, Product-Oriented Approach

The Good Ol’

Mainframes are legendary—highly complex, ultra-efficient, built over decades, and often maintained by experts who are about to retire. If you’ve ever tried hiring fresh talent for mainframe management, you know the harsh reality: nearly impossible.

So, it’s no surprise that in many CIO boards, the decision to replace the mainframe has already been made—including in my department. And, of course, there’s an entire industry ready to cash in on “Mainframe-to-Future” transformation projects.

Our Big Plan: Replacing the Mainframe with SAP

A complete shift in processes, rules, and collaboration—a massive challenge. And after seven years and millions invested, the brutal truth became clear: the project failed.
Not because of technology, but because of unchangeable structural conditions (let me be honest, lets accept that some things are so difficult to address you cant make one thing dependent on the other)

But the result? Everyone called it a “failed IT project.”
I could live with that, because I wasnt the one who started the projekt. Others couldn’t. But one fact remained: the mainframe would eventually become inoperable. We needed a new approach.

The usual reaction: Bring in the big consulting firms—each with its own (very expensive) roadmap.
My reaction: I called AWS.

Why? Because I wanted to hear how some of the brightest minds in the world would approach the problem. And then we did something no one had done before:

• We tested different approaches on a small section of our application.

• We experimented with automated code translation, manual refactoring, and alternative strategies.

• After just six to eight weeks, we knew exactly how to tackle the full transition—and how long it would take (and yes it still will take in total 2-3 years)

The Key Takeaways:

This was the moment we broke down the “impossible” mainframe challenge into manageable, bite-sized pieces.

➡ How do you approach large-scale transformations? Full-frontal attack or iterative strategy? Let’s discus

Sophie