Webinar 9 - Best practices for native and managed code - Question and Answer transcript

The following question was asked and answered during the latest webinar in the Visual COBOL webinar series calendar. If you have any more, please post them here. If you missed the webinar, you can catch up here: http://online.microfocus.com/visualcobolwebinar9

Q: We are currently using NetExpress 3.1 with several senior members having worked with COBOL for over 30 years.  What is the best way to start implementing Visual COBOL? Mainly, how do you convince them that the Visual Cobol would be a benefit?

A:  Convincing internal staff that it’s time to upgrade and pursue new technology is not always easy. Many times this requires an investment in product training, continued communications, as well as ongoing (internal marketing) awareness and education.

Investments in product training for your IT team will help empower and enable them to take on the new tasks required during the upgrade process. It will also build ownership of the technology within the IT team, itself. Communications must be central to all activities as change management occurs within IT. It will be important to lay out expectations for the team, as you prepare to upgrade, communicating roles, responsibilities, and tasks to achieve to upgrade. Lastly, internal awareness and education are very critical to gaining both user acceptance, but also agreement that the upgrade is ‘the right decision’ for the organization. This adoption and acceptance only arrives once proper education has taken place. The users must understand the benefits of upgrading, why it is critical to their business and application portfolio, as well as its significance to their personal marketability and skills development, longer term. If this product education, ongoing commitment to communication, and internal awareness and education occur, this creates an environment where upgrading to a new technology such as Visual COBOL, becomes agreeable and ‘bought in’ by the collective team.