Around the world, a common theme mainframe managers speak with me about is how their z/OS technical solutions offer an endless supply of alerts, but not solutions. It’s actually a common problem many managers face even outside of technical solutions. Employees take problems to managers in hopes of getting help in solving the issue. I experienced this firsthand as a manager myself. The problem, however, is that with too many alerts or problems, managers quickly become overwhelmed. This is especially true today with mainframe operations. 

Most z/OS solutions today are very good for sending alerts to operators. These alerts may be critical and time-sensitive, or they may be false-alerts. The more alerts there are, the harder it is to distinguish between the two. A “good” alert would indicate the problems:

·       Severity

·       Time-sensitivity

·       Relevance to other issues

·       Relevant historical data

But even better than a “good” alert, are possible solutions to the problem. Not just another popup or email. That’s where IBM Concert for Z comes in.

One of the main problems we aimed to solve with Concert for Z was not just making “good” alerts, but to actually provide actionable advice and recommendations on how to solve the problem we were alerting you to. To that end, Concert for Z:

·       logically groups similar alerts together and prioritizes them – removing noise and making it easier for operators to prioritize what really matters

·       provides relevant context on the problem and actionable built-in expert advice on how to potentially solve the problem

·       access to watsonx Assistant for Z to further diagnose the problem and search for other solutions

Concert for Z goes much further than that.

IBM Concert for Z is an AI-powered IT resiliency management tool that simplifies mainframe operations to help maintain business resiliency while managing risk. It helps teams identify issues, maintenance gaps and critical vulnerabilities early, enabling faster, and more confident actions.

On September 25, I will be joined by Luke de Kansky as we will cover some of the most pressing issues faced by mainframe operators and managers today, and ways IBM Concert for Z helps address and overcome them. You’ll be able to see, among other things, how Concert for Z:

• Enables prioritization and grouping of IT events for faster analysis, accelerates root cause detection with AI-driven recommendations, and drives swift issue resolution to minimize business impact.
• Supports prediction and proactive management of operational risks, enabling corrective actions before disruptions occur.

Please reach out to me if there’s anything specific you would like to see addressed in the webinar. Register here: https://ibm.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1728536&tp_key=684112b76f