Mainframes on Mars

I am fresh back from Sibos.

What do you think we should do differently as the banking industry on Mars?

Although, to be accurate and truthful, I am neither fresh nor technically back yet as I type this. Still, both of those things will be true by the time you read this.

And I should be allowed some artistic license, especially as you are getting no more of that this week. Because as I think back upon my week at Sibos, I believe I managed the unenviable feat of mentioning mainframes both on stage and in private conversation every single day of the event.

That takes some doing, let me tell you. Especially among the Innotribe crew.

Am I proud of that fact?

No… not really.

I don’t start out to be a party pooper. It’s just who I am as a person, it turns out.

Because I sat next to a very intelligent and articulate man who, as it turns out, is the crypto Messiah. Sergey Nazarov was also very nice and lent me his jacket (you give me food or warmth and I love you forever, it’s that simple). He spoke with passion and deep knowledge about the future and blockchain’s role in it and, although I was captivated and inspired, my question was: “Well, yes. But the people listening to you are carrying mainframes that are older than me and have a number of commitments that take up money and headspace and time… and all that does not make it easy to work out what to do next in order to not be left out by the future you describe. What should they be doing right now?”

His answer, one of the most honest ones we had at Sibos, was also not what anyone wanted to hear: spend now. Spend big. Keep spending. And lose the mainframes already.

Amen.

But I did it again, dear readers. With every group of folks I spoke to.

Generative AI came up again and again. And because I am an enthusiastic participant in the conversation around risks and opportunities and vocal (as you may have read in my piece a few weeks ago) about both avoiding the errors of the past and avoiding becoming a parasite in the new economy (both because we should have higher standards for ourselves and, frankly, because that won’t be tolerated for long), I was actively involved and led conversations on the topic… and wanted people to think big and ask hard questions… did I manage to stay away from mainframes?

No, I did not.

Am I proud of that fact?

Actually, you know, if we are honest… yes.

I am.

I know it’s not sexy and it’s not glamorous to talk about the past. I know it’s uncomfortable and not welcome to talk about the errors of the past. But we did that avoidance thing extensively as we were navigating the digital transition and where did it get us? It got us to a Dr Frankenstein present of digital capabilities balanced on top of pre-digital estates. And what does that do? It increases operational risk, it decreases system stability and it sinks your cost to serve to the bottom of the ocean.

To add more technical complexity on top of this is madness. To try to participate in an emergent economy while carrying unit economics that already don’t wash is whatever comes after madness. It ain’t good.

So, am I proud I keep bringing up mainframes?

A little bit.

I mean. Someone has to.

So yes.

I am the ‘bah humbug’ sort who sat next to Brett King and listened to his eloquently painted image of the future in a post-labour economy. Where humans don’t just use AI to automate and streamline. To increase profitability and feed an endless competition loop. But actually leverage it to move us past a world where we are defined by labour into a world where our collective technical achievements liberate us from the shackles of our own making. Brett painted a picture of a world that allows us all more space to be and more space to breathe, leveraging technology we actually have, just pointing it at problems differently.

So, when asked about what banking and money would be like on Mars, he rightly asks why would we do this all over again?

And then the question came to me, and I brought everyone crashing down.

“What do you think we should do differently as the banking industry on Mars?” I was asked.

I said by the time we have worked out how to breathe and not have to do a Matt Damon to survive on Mars I hope we have ditched the mainframes.

I didn’t say it to get a cheap laugh (though, you know, I got one).

I didn’t say it to juxtapose Brett’s point.

I said it because it’s true.

And because I have seen our industry refuse to ditch legacy tech even when it is evidently time. So, dragging it all the way to Mars is not beyond the realm of the possible.

I also said it because, if you want a world like the one Brett described or like the one Sergey described or like the one you can imagine for yourself when looking at the tech capabilities at our disposal, then the way to get there is paved with innovation and creativity and experimentation, sure. But it is also punctuated with choices around the systems you will stop carrying. The tech you will stop using (and paying for). The migrations you will underwire and complete.

Yes, I am looking at you. The banks who went 98% of the way there, then found a marginal use case that wasn’t properly planned for, a jurisdiction that needed extra work or a client who didn’t want to move to a new system and decided that it was OK, you’d carry both the old and new systems… and the different teams… and the different infrastructure. Why not?

Why not?

Because of operational risk, stability and unit economics.

Because if you are nodding away when Sergey talks about the future, if you are inspired when Brett talks about the future, if you are excited when you think about the future as you play around with Midjourney and Leonardo when you should be working… then you need to lose the mainframes.

This is the way.

The only way.

#LedaWrites

Leda Glyptis is FinTech Futures’ resident thought provocateur – she leads, writes on, lives and breathes transformation and digital disruption.

She is a recovering banker, lapsed academic and long-term resident of the banking ecosystem. 

Leda is also a published author – her first book, Bankers Like Us: Dispatches from an Industry in Transition, is available to order here.

All opinions are her own. You can’t have them – but you are welcome to debate and comment!

Follow Leda on Twitter @LedaGlyptis and LinkedIn.