Subject: CM First Group December 2025 Newsletter

Modernization news fit to print

December 2025

In this issue...

  • Webinar: Scoping and Estimating Legacy Modernization w/CM evolveIT

  • Featured: The $1.52 Trillion Problem: Why Legacy Technical Debt is Killing Innovation - CM First Group

  • Article: CIOs grapple with role change amid AI influx - CIO Dive

  • Video: Should Developers Care About Software Architecture? - Modern Software Engineering

  • Listen: Why Architecture Determines the Future of AI Innovation - with Aaron Levie of Box - AI in Business Podcast

  • Watch: CM First Video Series

  • Intelligence: Further Reading on the Web

Webinar

Register Now for "Scoping and Estimating Legacy Modernization with CM evolveIT"


In this 30-minute webinar, you’ll discover how CM evolveIT eliminates the guesswork from modernization scoping by automatically analyzing your legacy applications and revealing:

  • The true size and complexity of your codebase—detailed inventories that show exactly what you’re working with

  • Hidden dependencies and interactions—visual maps that expose how components actually connect

  • Reliable project estimates—data-driven insights that help you choose between refactoring, rebuilding, or replacement

  • Cost-effective modernization paths—clarity that prevents hidden surprises and budget overruns

Scoping and Estimating Legacy Modernization with CM evolveIT
Thursday, January 8th, 2025
10 a.m. CT - 30-minutes with Q&A


Learn more or register now →

Heads Up

The Real Innovation Killer Hiding in Your IT Budget


Most IT budgets aren’t driving innovation, they’re keeping aging systems alive. With $1.52 trillion locked in technical debt across U.S. enterprises, even small changes can take months, while newer competitors ship in weeks.


This is not a talent or execution issue; it’s the cumulative effect of decades of embedded business logic, undocumented dependencies, and architectural decisions that now constrain strategic change.


New AI-powered approaches can analyze legacy code, preserve critical business logic, and modernize systems incrementally without the risk of ripping everything out. It reframes modernization from a risky IT project into a practical way to regain speed, budget, and competitive advantage.


Read our recent article for a full breakdown  →

Announcing CM evolveIT 11.7


Available for Streaming: Join us for informative, hands-on sessions focused on the new CM evolveIT 11.7 release. 


Tailored for future-minded developers, these sessions showcase groundbreaking enhancements aimed at revolutionizing your code analysis and transformation workflows. Expect hands-on demonstrations that you can take to your development workflows right away.

Watch a webinar now...

Mainframe COBOL

Latest Advances in Mainframe COBOL Code Analysis and Transformation

Learn about cutting-edge artificial intelligence tools that promise streamlined analysis and transformation processes, automated tools that convert legacy COBOL code to Java, and advanced code slicing.


Watch Now

IBM i

Latest Advances in IBM i Code Analysis and Transformation

Learn how to cut your analysis costs by up to 80% with new capabilities. We'll demo new CA 2E (Synon) and CA Plex superpowers, AI and Code slicing innovations, and improved support for DB2 and COBOL and more.


Watch Now

Heads Up

CIOs grapple with role change amid AI influx


AI adoption is no longer an experimental IT initiative. It’s reshaping how decisions are made, how teams operate, and where accountability sits at the executive level. As organizations push AI into core workflows, CIOs are being pulled closer to strategy, governance, and value creation. They now often act as the connective tissue between technology, data, and business outcomes.


But success isn’t about deploying more tools. It depends on leadership alignment, data readiness, and clear ownership of risk, ethics, and ROI.


Leading CIOs are now driving AI strategy, ensuring data readiness, managing risk and ethics, and aligning technology initiatives with enterprise-wide goals.


Read the article at CIO Dive  →

Watch

Should Developers Care About Software Architecture?


Rushing to ship features without a clear architectural strategy often leads to fragile systems, slower time to value, and missed opportunities with AI.


Strong architecture isn’t just cleaner code. It’s the foundation that enables organizations to innovate faster, scale reliably, and fully leverage AI-driven systems.


In a candid discussion, Dave Farley and Sam Newman explore why software architecture and design patterns remain essential in modern engineering. Furthermore, how design, coding, and programming intersect, and what truly separates thoughtful system design from day-to-day development.


Jump to the full video  →

Listen

Why Architecture Determines the Future of AI Innovation - with Aaron Levie of Box


As AI moves from experiment to enterprise imperative, it’s becoming clear that success isn’t just about algorithms, it’s about how your data and systems are structured.


Aaron Levie, CEO of Box, joins Emerj’s Daniel Faggella to unpack how AI is reshaping enterprise data architecture and why thoughtful design now determines who leads tomorrow. From organizing unstructured content and enabling AI-ready workflows to modular systems that accelerate productivity, Levie explains how modern architectures can turn data management from a bottleneck into a business advantage.


For leaders thinking about AI not as a project but as a long-term strategic capability, the insights here are essential.


Listen now on the AI in Business Podcast  →

Video Vault

Next-Gen Pair Programming: AI Collaboration on IBM i and IBM z Systems


Join us for a cutting-edge webinar that merges the art of pair programming with the innovation of AI for both IBM i and IBM z systems. This session is dedicated to COBOL developers working on IBM's midrange and mainframe platforms, offering a deep dive into how AI can amplify coding collaboration and efficiency.


In this webinar:

  • Discuss the integration of AI-driven pair programming in IBM i and IBM z COBOL development.

  • Address the unique challenges of maintaining and evolving COBOL applications with AI support.

  • Showcase a live demonstration of AI tools tailored to IBM i and IBM z developers.

  • Share actionable strategies for embedding AI into the pair programming workflow on both platforms.

Whether you're involved in IBM i or IBM z development, this webinar will equip you with the knowledge to leverage AI for better code quality, faster problem-solving, and more productive pair programming sessions. Engage with our experts and take the first step towards a smarter, AI-assisted development future.


Watch the video now →

Are you tired of time-consuming manual testing software applications? Fortra's Automate Plus RPA is here to help. Join us for a webinar where we review the features of this powerful tool and show you how it can revolutionize your software testing processes, making it better, more accurate, and quicker to get results.


Watch the Webinar →

Frightened about the prospect of your legacy IBM i and z application developers leaving? We have a solution that can put your fears to rest. In this webinar, we demonstrate how you can “refactor” your legacy app developed in COBOL, RPG, or CA 2E (Synon) directly to maintainable runtime-free Java and JS.


Watch the Webinar →

 Broadcom Support 


Many enterprises struggle with obtaining Broadcom support for their CA 2E (Synon, COOL:2E) or CA Plex systems


If you're working with an older unsupported release, upgrading your IBM OS, or otherwise under the shadow of lapsed maintenance, we can get you back on Broadcom support based on your unique situation. We specialize in all sizes of customers.


Fill out our 2 minute form and schedule a no-commitment fifteen minute conversation with a CM First Group technical rep.

Get rock solid Broadcom support

CM First Support

Current CM First Group customers can access tutorials and submit support tickets at support.cmfirstgroup.com.

Current Releases


CM WebClient 1.8.8 (with nightly builds) For details, go here.

CM Matchpoint ALM 7.0 Build 004. For details, go here.

CM evolveIT 11.7, last supported 10.6
CM M3 2024 Edition
CA Plex 7.3, last supported 7.2.1 (as of October 31, 2024)
→ Details can be found here at Broadcom (login required)
CA 2E 8.7.4, last supported 8.7 (as of October 31, 2024)
→ Details can be found here at Broadcom (login required)
Contact CM First to learn more: info@cmfirstgroup.com

Intelligence

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