Alexa and IBM z/OS, discovering ways to make interacting with mainframes more productive

Apr 7, 2020

In 2020, it’s estimated that more than a third of all Americans now own a smart speaker in their home, with Alexa keeping the lead with around 70% market share. Consumers report that what is driving this trend is both convenience as well as ease-of-use when multitasking around the home. Whether it’s searching for a fact (68% of users) or searching for a business (47%), there are still unique applications both imagined and developed every day.This trend shows no sign of slowing down. Gartner estimates that by 2021, 30% of all web-browsing will be done without a screen. (And half of all web searches, as well.)

Organizations and their IT teams are catching up with this adoption rate and validating the return on investment for implementing voice application functionality around the workplace.An increasing number of studies are finding voice-recognition software boosts worker productivity. Additionally, the ease-of-use that comes with integrating AI/UX into a seamless, intuitive process powered by voice is too rewarding for CIO and IT teams to not explore.Other studies show that over one-third of professionals in general in the workplace state that if they could change just one thing in their department, they would want technology and application interfaces to be “more intuitive and simple.”

DTS is providing a glimpse into the future, marrying Alexa and z/OS and what this might mean for large enterprises. DTS Software leads the way when it comes to creating a voice-interface that delivers on this demand from DevOps teams working on z/OS mainframes across the country. Tom Williamson, founder of DTS Software, designed a way to integrate Alexa with z/OS to execute a variety of tasks ranging from job status reports to starting (or stopping) those jobs.

“Integrating Alexa and z/OS can provide a myriad of different things for large enterprises. Alexa can help improve communications across enterprises and perhaps accelerate works in progress while minimizing mistakes,” said Tom Williamson, founder of DTS Software.

So far, feedback from the DevOps community has been optimistic while asking a lot of questions. Ideas submitted include using Alexa as a tool to get quick feedback on what status or error messages mean. Others indicate Alexa integrated with z/OS mainframes can aid with multitasking to enhance communications across teams and geographies.

As early innovators in the 1980s, for the past 40 years DTS Software has seen the evolution of the IBM Z mainframe and know it is not phasing out anytime soon. However, we know the pressure that IT and DevOps teams are facing. There are always ways to help IT do more work with fewer resources and better solutions, and Alexa can help.

To learn how to set up your Alexa to z/OS contact DTS Software here.