Maximizing ROI in the AI Era: Mainframe Value and TCO explained

Maximizing ROI in the AI Era: Mainframe Value and TCO explained

Innovation is essential to drive better business outcomes. It's also not a one-time event; it's a continuous journey that, when implemented correctly, creates enduring value. In the era of AI,...

Innovation is essential to drive better business outcomes. It's also not a one-time event; it's a continuous journey that, when implemented correctly, creates enduring value.

In the era of AI, new questions are being raised on how to maximize ROI while driving innovation. How do you optimize cost and generate long term value?

Because enterprise infrastructure and application landscapes have grown in scale and complexity over time, answering these basic questions can seem overwhelming. To be successful, you need a structured, data-driven approach.

To help, IBM recently published a playbook on maximizing business value with the mainframe. This shares our proven approach for driving innovation with our clients, based on decades of experience. It starts with the most important step: choosing the best-fit platform for applications within your hybrid cloud environment.

When it comes to mission critical workloads, the reality is that innovating on the mainframe is both essential and less expensive than alternatives, and empowers true business transformation. Today, mainframes handle over 70% of transactional workloads, while accounting for less than 10% of the total IT spend.¹

And that workload is growing - we've seen a 4x increase in mainframe workloads over the last 10 years. Looking forward, AI is creating a unique opportunity and tailwind for growth. As AI adoption grows, enterprises will realize even more value from the platform, which is trusted to run the global economy.

So how can organizations accurately decipher mainframe value and cost?

The Value of the Mainframe for Your Applications

In a hybrid cloud environment, mission critical workloads are best fit for the mainframe. These applications have uncompromising requirements and can deliver more business value at enterprise scale when they take advantage of the mainframe's capabilities.

Looking forward, with AI and quantum in the fold, more applications will be best-fit for the mainframe, not less. The mainframe's fully engineered vertical stack delivers this value at a fraction of the cost of alternatives.

How Platform Choice Impacts Cost and Value

The cost savings when innovating on the mainframe are significant. With IBM's Apptio TCO capabilities, it's easier than ever to make data-driven decisions to choose the best platform for your workloads.

Over the last decade, detailed analysis of workloads has shown that mission critical applications are 2-4x less expensive running on the mainframe.

Why? Non-linear cost per transaction significantly improves as volumes scale up. The purpose-built, optimized stack from the lowest level of hardware through the software drives performance and energy efficiency.

When you look at this from the angle of 5-year TCO and leveraging your existing investments - applications that run your core business - the ROI for innovating on the mainframe, compared to moving off platform, is even stronger.

In addition, even with AI code generation, millions of dollars of development cost can be avoided when you choose to extend and enhance your applications on the mainframe, versus re-architecting them off platform.

There are also unexpected costs, not reflected in the analysis above, that can have significant implications. For example, downtime and data breaches cost millions of dollars, in addition to reputation damage and risk to future business. By taking advantage of the mainframe for your applications, you significantly reduce the risk of these events.

Unlocking What's Possible Through Innovation

The mainframe delivers unbeatable value and cost for your mission critical applications. When you choose to innovate on platform, you can maximize your ROI, deliver enduring value, and transform your business.

¹Celent Mitigating Fraud in the AI Age, April 2025