The Infor EMEA System i User Survey 2013 By Inforsystemi on Jun 12, 2013 Infor’s EMEA System i Survey 2013 was carried out during March and April 2013 with over a thousand manager or higher decision-makers invited to participate and over a hundred responses collected. Due to a small minority of end-users maintaining old System i applications purely for archive purposes, and to ensure the survey is representative of businesses running their mission-critical applications on IBM i, only those still running their mission-critical applications on the platform, were included in the results. Only 6.5% of IBM i platform end-users disagree with the statement, ‘we believe our System i platform is future-proof.’ Moreover, when asked whether their business system is ‘very reliable’, not one of the respondents running their mission-critical business systems on System i disagreed. 92% concurred and the remaining 7.7% were ‘neutral’. The survey results also support the widely-held belief that System i applications can be deployed faster and maintained with fewer staff. When asked whether total cost of ownership of their system compares well with alternatives, only 5.5% disagreed. To access the full survey report please visit: www.inforsystemi.com/survey

1. The Infor EMEA System i
User Survey 2013
Tim Mears, System i Business Development, EMEA
June 2013
Tim.Mears@infor.com

2. Agenda
Infor’s EMEA System i Survey 2013 was carried out during
March and April 2013 with over a thousand manager or
higher decision-makers invited to participate.
Only those running their mission-critical applications on
System i were included in the results.

3. System i overwhelmingly still means
value for money
When asked whether total cost
of ownership of their system
compares well with alternatives,
only 5.5% disagreed.
62.7%
Agreed
%
31.8
Neutral
%
5.5
Disagreed

4. Up-to-date IBM i is the key to reliability
Unsurprisingly, when asked whether their business system is “very reliable”,
not one of the respondents running their mission-critical business systems on
System i disagreed. 92.5% agreed and the remaining 7.5% were “neutral”.
5025 75 100
5025 75 100
System i 7.1
System i 5.4
100% Very
Reliable
97% Very
Reliable

5. The first ever System i virus?
To our surprise, a sole respondent
disagreed slightly with the statement
that they had never experienced
a virus on their System i platform.
There is currently no known virus
which targets or infects System i,
however it is theoretically possible
for a PC user to save an infected
file to a System i file server.
100100000111101111001
000001111011101000111
10110100100110010000
011110111010010000011
1101111001000001111011
101000111101101001001
100100000111101110100
100000111101111001000
0011110111010001111011

6. Over-confidence in backups?
The clear picture is one of System i
users having very high confidence
in their ability to recover 100% of
their data in the event of data loss.
However anecdotal evidence
suggests backups are rarely
tested, over-used tapes are
starting to fail and off-site tapes are
often on-site when disaster strikes.
Backup
2Not Confident
%
12Neutral
%
86Confident
%

7. Declining skill base
When asked whether attracting
and retaining critical IT skills was
becoming a problem, over half
of respondents agreed.
26
Neutral
%
22
Disagreed
%
52
Agreed
%

8. Mystified about the cloud?
Results suggest that
System i users are
unsure as to how
the cloud computing
model could be
applicable to them.
14Saw
benefit
33Didn’t
see benefit
% 53Neutral
% %

9. You’re Power™-Hungry
A small minority of respondents disagreed that they were uncomfortable with
the risk and cost of operating old software. Most agreed they would indeed
be more comfortable on newer hardware.
The figures were
almost identical
for IBM i operating
system software.
58
Agreed
%
23
Neutral
%
19
Disagreed
%

10. Green Screen
The vast majority of
those experiencing
issues with appearance
or user interface were
running early versions of
the operating system.
%
42Don’t mind the
green screen %
31Neutral
%
27Somewhat unhappy
with green screen

11. System i is good for business
When asked whether users are able
to access the data they need to run
the business, 71% agreed, with the
vast majority of the remainder giving
a neutral answer.
It proves that a mature business
system, kept up to date, will often
continue to serve the business
needs very well.
71%
Agreed they have access to the data
they need to run their business

12. 90% of users appear to plan further
investment in the platform:
When asked about four
possible areas for investment:
Reporting and Analytics,
Additional Functionality,
Going Mobile, and 24x7
High Availability, 90% of
respondents indicated at least
one area was either a need or
a priority for investment.
Reporting and
Analytics
Additional
Functionality
Going
Mobile
24/7 High
Availability

13. Conclusion:
Still ‘future proof’, with a TCO that compares well
Only 6.5% of IBM i platform end-users disagree with the statement, ‘we believe
our System i platform is future-proof.’ Moreover, when asked whether their business
system is ‘very reliable’, not one of the respondents running their mission-critical
business systems on System i disagreed. 92% concurred and the remaining
7.7% were ‘neutral’.
The survey results also support the widely-held belief that System i applications can
be deployed faster and maintained with fewer staff. When asked whether total cost
of ownership of their system compares well with alternatives, only 5.5% disagreed.

14. Read the full survey report
To access the full survey report please visit:
www.inforsystemi.com/survey

15. Thank you
Infor would like to thank the participants in the EMEA
System i Attitudes Survey for helping to raise €500 for
“Habitat for Humanity” through their participation.