March 2023

What do IBM i Consultants do?

Before answering that question it is vital to understand and look at what a consultant is. 

At the simplest, a consultant is someone who you would consult on a subject; more specifically there is a level of experience implicit that suggests that a consultant would have specialist knowledge on that subject.

An IBM i consultant then is an IT consultant who specialises in the IBM i ecosystem and who can offer consulting services to businesses and organisations who either use or are investigating the use of the IBM i platform. 

What services can an IBM i Consultant offer? 

In the same way that medical consultants may be generalists, or might specialise in a specific discipline, the same is true of IBM i consultants.  For this reason, let’s describe some of the types of consultancy that could be sought, and how a skilled consultant could service those requirements; whilst remembering that it is unlikely that a single consultant would be capable of meeting all those scenarios. 

One of the hallmarks of a great consultant though is the ability to bring in supporting expertise where their own skillset does not cover the task at hand. 

How does this differ from a general IT consultant? 

Like Windows, Unix, or Linux machines, the IBM i has its own strengths, features, and quirks that mean that to get the best from it a consultant should understand the platform completely. 

The IBM i is a powerful mid-range computing platform, and to utilise that power it needs to be implemented effectively.  A consultant will be able to help organisations to develop and implement IBM i-based solutions and should be as adept at refining and optimizing existing systems.  

Solutions could include: 

• The design and implementation of high availability, disaster recovery, and backup solutions 
• Deploying new applications (ERP, WMS, CRM)  
• Investigating compliance with regulation (Sarbanes Oxley, PCI, ISO 27001) 

Working as a business analyst, a consultant might work within an organisation mapping out, performing analysis, and suggesting solutions to meet a set of requirements. This could include the production of high-level designs which could form the basis of software development or the production of implementation plans for complex off-the-shelf packages for example. 

Consultants experienced in the IBM i ecosystem will be up to date with the latest developments on the platform.  This means that they are ideally placed to bring the efficiencies of the latest developments to their clients, for example: 

• a new release of the IBM i operating system could unlock new features or additional performance. 

• The IBM i can be moved from the premises and virtualised in the cloud. 
• Backup can now be made to cloud storage or to virtual tape libraries. 

An IBM i Consultant will be able to unlock the potential of the systems within a business, centered on the IBM i and will help to shape them into something greater than the individual parts. 

In summary 

If your business or organisation uses an IBM i, or one of its predecessors the IBM i Series, or AS/400, then a consultant will be able to work with you to achieve your business aims.   

Rather than retaining and training an expensive internal resource, a consultant can be called upon for specific projects. 

IBM i consultants will be experienced in the IBM i platform and also in how that platform can work in numerous business scenarios. 

Joseph Vavasour

KFA Connect – IT Manager

13th March 2023

Want to know more? Get in touch with our team today.

Richard Austin – New Business Director, KFA Connect

Richard Austin – Husband, Dad, Son, Brother, Uncle, Friend, Confidant and KFA Director.

Richard never had any intentions of working in IT, it just happened!

Starting Out…

Having failed my ‘A’ levels and taken a job at a local manufacturing company driving documents between manufacturing locations, because of my love of cars, I was encouraged by colleagues to apply for an internal opportunity as a trainee IBM S/38 developer.

I really wasn’t too sure it was for me, and besides, I was 18 and was loving driving the company brand new Astra GTE around for parts of the day! It was a big departure from driving my own 1964 Mini 850cc that rarely made it to my intended destination.

Have a Go!

Having been persuaded to at least ‘have a go’ and apply for the job, I passed the aptitude test and was offered the role. At this point, I think it’s safe to say, my life changed considerably for the better and my future became a lot brighter.

After a 10-week residential training course learning the S/38 from scratch and learning to program in RPG and CL, I returned to my employer and was immediately promoted from Trainee to Junior programmer. This was not through any skill on my part but through the necessity of trying to keep hold of staff in what was a very buoyant market.

Reaching the dizzy heights of Junior programmer wasn’t enough for me and when I was offered the role of programmer on the then-new AS/400, at a large American bank, I rewarded the company who had invested heavily in me by jumping at the opportunity. In this role, I grew my developer skills and gained significant operational experience particularly around IT security. 

After 2 years I left the bank to go contracting at the age of 21.  

The Next 20 Years…

Over a period of 20 years I worked predominantly in Finance for large multi-national banks and investment houses in the city of London. One year was spent living and working in Switzerland where my now wife and I caught the bug for skiing and snowboarding. Whenever I wanted to work nearer to home I took a break from Finance and worked in local Retail and Distribution contracts.  

Always looking for new opportunities, I purchased one of the software houses I had been contracting at locally but was unable to make a success of the business and returned to contract in London where within 12 months I had set up a consultancy providing resources to the bank for support and development of their AS/400 application. This consultancy agreement remained in place for 10 years.

KFA Connect

In 2011 I joined KFA as a contractor and was tasked with trying to re-vitalise the business with new ideas whilst helping to service the existing customer base. Within 2 years of joining, I became a 50% owner of the business through a Management Buyout with another colleague/friend at the company.

Throughout my 35 years in IT, the diversity of my roles in different organisations has led to a wealth of experience and a real understanding of how business works in both large and small organisations with exposure to many different areas of IT delivery, operations, and management.

Work-Life Balance

I have always been someone who looks for a good balance between work and family. I love to travel and enjoyed playing golf regularly in my late 20s/early 30s before my wonderful children were born.

I have always lived along the South Coast from Portsmouth to Bournemouth and finally settled in the New Forest in 1996. The New Forest provides me and my family with plenty of opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors walking, cycling and camper vanning.

My passion for a healthy life, both mentally and physically, is reflected in our ethos for the KFA  team, encouraging hard work but plenty of time away from work to recharge, switch off and enjoy life.   

Want to know more? Get in touch with our team today.

What is IBM i Application Modernisation?

Application modernisation in general refers to the process of updating and transforming legacy applications to make them more modern, efficient, and user-friendly.

IBM i Application Modernisation

IBM i Application Modernisation refers to the process of updating and improving applications that run on the IBM i (formerly known as AS/400 or iSeries) platform to modernise the user experience, improve performance, and enhance functionality.

The modernisation of applications has been an important topic for many years. The IT industry moves quickly – but the applications that are developed to make use of that technology rarely, if ever, keep pace. Out-of-date applications can be inflexible, difficult to change and costly to maintain, but are often critical to business.

Updating the IBM i Application’s Architecture, User-interface & Functionality

IBM i is a popular platform for running business-critical applications, and many companies have been using it for decades. Often used by early adopters of technology, businesses that use IBM i have made large investments in their applications. Over time, these applications may become outdated and difficult to maintain, leading to reduced productivity, increased costs, and a lack of flexibility.

Application modernisation involves updating the application’s architecture, user interface, and functionality to better meet the changing needs of the business and users. This can include adopting modern programming languages and improving integration with other systems.

Some common modernisation strategies include:

• Web-enabling legacy applications to make them accessible via web browsers and mobile devices.
• Refactoring code to optimise performance and improve maintainability.
• Integrating IBM i applications with other systems and technologies
• Re-architecting applications to adopt modern design patterns and principles.
• Adopting the use of new development tools.

Through modernising IBM i applications, organisations can improve their agility, reduce costs, and better leverage their existing investments.

Modernised Applications

An application that has been modernised is more flexible, easier to enhance and responsive to business demands.

With mobile device support, staff no longer need to be at their desk to access applications or data – they can be wherever they need to be with access to the information and functions, whether that’s checking stock in the warehouse or placing orders when visiting a customer’s site.

Through modernisation it is easier to recruit younger staff interested in newer technologies and also to maintain the interest of existing users and developers.

Staff satisfaction is increased if the interfaces are modern, powerful and assist them in completing their work – and with more and more members of staff in the workforce accustomed to modern digital devices that means that the expectations of those staff are higher than ever before.

In our experience, regular, incremental change is the least disruptive way to modernise systems, it’s the most manageable way to undertake the task, it reduces risk, and should always be preferred if possible.

Finley Austin

KFA Connect – Marketing Assistant

2nd March 2023

Want to know more? Get in touch with our team today.