Mainframe Benchmarking and Negotiation Services

The mainframe cost structure is highly complex.

Measuring the exact cost is a challenging, but nonetheless essential task, to be able to control the cost. This is especially the case when evaluating outsourcing agreements, as they often include a truncated and not very transparent pricing plan.

To assess whether your Mainframe prices align with market rates, you need to start by establishing the technical and contractual baseline, as well as identifying the consumption pattern. The data typically need to be extracted using multiple digital asset and system management tools, and reviewing licensing reports, invoicing details, and contract materials.

“By understand­ing your current – and expected – consumption pattern, you can assess whether the metrics used in your con­tract are favourable to you or if you should aim to change the metrics.”

The baseline gives you insights about the cost at workload level, and allows you to develop cost scenarios depending on expected changes in consumption and price development. This will vastly improve budgeting and economic forecasting, but is also critical for assessing the impact of decommissioning existing workloads or deploying new ones, and should be used when deciding on the mainframe strategy.

There are different metrics for calculating the consumption price, typically related to fluctuations and how peak levels are dealt with. By understanding your current – and expected – consumption pattern, you can assess whether the metrics used in your contract are favourable to you, or if you should aim to change the metrics. Furthermore, the insights may give rise to changing internal processes by shifting utilization to off-peak periods.

To optimize the cost further, you need to put your setup and cost in context – i.e., benchmark your data against industry averages. If your cost deviates considerably, it is important to understand the reasons. If, for example, you have a relatively low capacity or a higher SLA, you should expect a higher price per MIPS.

To get the most out of our benchmarking data, you need a strong negotiating strategy, including targets, prioritized options, walk-away criteria, etc.