Mainframe Still Plays a Critical Role in Financial Services

This IDC Perspective details how mainframes still play a critical role in financial services. Any time a consumer purchases a latte, buys a mobile phone, or pays for movie tickets at the cinema, that transaction is almost guaranteed to be processed by two or three mainframes at the acquiring company, the payment processor, and the cardholder's bank. Mainframes support over 95% of all noncash transactions worldwide. IDC Financial Insights doesn't see any significant shift away from mainframes for certain workloads. And in fact, when financial institutions consider mainframe modernization, they look at several options that don't include public cloud."Mainframes can be considered the beating heart of every financial transaction worldwide," says Jerry Silva, program vice president for IDC Financial Insights. "But it will only continue to serve if the institution makes intentional choices about making sure it continues to evolve through modernization strategies."