COBOL stands the test of time

Kelly: COBOL is worth another 50 years with appropriate skilling up of IT professionals

It is not possible to sync an iPod with a gramophone, upload a document to a typewriter, or text a friend from a phonebox. Yet much technology underpinning business today is linked to a 50-year-old innovation.

On 28 May 1959, the Pentagon laid down guidelines that would found Common Business-Oriented Language (COBOL). Over the following decades, COBOL developed a near-ubiquitous relationship with enterprise IT.

COBOL is everywhere and most of us use it in one form or another daily ­ visiting an ATM, stopping at traffic lights and shopping online.

Two hundred times as many COBOL transactions happen each day than Google searches. Every year, COBOL systems are responsible for transporting up to 72,000 shipping containers, caring for 60 million patients, processing 80 per cent of
point-of-sale transactions and connecting 500 million mobile phone users.

COBOL manages our train timetables, air traffic control systems, holiday bookings and supermarket stock controls ­ and the list goes on.

Embracing modernisation
There are more than 220 billion lines of COBOL in existence ­ about 80 per cent of the world’s actively used code ­ and estimated to be more than a million COBOL programmers in the world today.

COBOL aimed to provide a common standard for programmers based on plain English. Versatility has also played a part. Applications first developed to run on IBM System 700 mainframes are now being readied to move on to an Amazon or Microsoft cloud platform.

COBOL’s propensity for modernisation is unparalleled, making it not only effective but also cost-effective.

Decades-old COBOL systems still exist, partly because of the immense investment of hours as well as other resources spent on them over time. These systems have evolved with the business and become crucial corporate assets in their own right.

If COBOL systems still perform business-critical tasks efficiently and reliably, they
may continue for another 50 years.

Having shrugged off the over-hyped threat of the Millennium Bug, the main risk facing COBOL is finding and training enough professionals to maintain all 220 billion lines.

Many students are choosing to learn Web 2.0 skills, while many COBOL specialists are reaching retirement age. Ensuring COBOL remains a crucial part of the IT skill set
must be a key priority for business, government and academia. The cost of rewriting COBOL programs is estimated at about $25 per line.

At the core of the matter
New platforms may come and go, but core systems remain at the heart of systems.
When the rate of technological and business change appears to increase daily, it seems remarkable that the technology underpinning most of the world’s most important systems is now 50 years old. However, to those who work closely with COBOL, its influence is not sheer good fortune.

The longevity of COBOL is testament to its versatility, its reliability and, above all, its success. The promise of a simple code, which has changed the face
of business technology, offers us all a lesson in growing old gracefully.

Stephen Kelly is chief executive of Micro Focus