Programming language still in widespread use
The COBOL programming language still forms the basis of the system code in many companies today, especially in the financial and insurance sectors. At first glance, it is hardly surprising that more than a quarter of German companies still rely on COBOL applications today. This is impressively shown in the graphic of a market analysis that we conducted together with Statista.
Most organizations that continue to use COBOL work with a large volume of transactions while having a large amount of users. A predominant share of all card readers at ATMs still perform their services on the basis of COBOL code. The same applies to many transaction processing systems which, for example, control and maintain payment transactions or securities trading in the banking sector – a high proportion of these were built using COBOL.
Even though the programming language is now over 60 years old, it still scores with high speed, easy access, robustness and the openness of the technology. However, this view does not go far enough and leaves important framework conditions and market developments out of the picture. After all, maintaining such legacy systems is not only time-consuming and expensive. Most companies also no longer have in-house expertise and lack IT experts and programmers to perform exactly these necessary tasks. In this context, the digital transformation and the associated modernization of IT landscapes, which by no means stops at the financial and insurance sector, is far more serious. The question of how the IT transformation in these industries can be successfully navigated and even accelerated is a competitive factor.
Do not miss the connection under any circumstances. Whether you are looking for specialists to support you in the care and maintenance of your legacy systems or to help you with the Replacement of old IT landscapes with help and advice: Our consultants are not only proficient in old programming languages such as COBOL, but are also happy to advise you on the path to the new digital age. Please feel free to contact us:
