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leverage (bit of sentence)

English translation: convert ... to a more modern look and feel

08:41 Dec 24, 2003
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Marketing
English term or phrase: leverage (bit of sentence)
IBM also announced the Enterprise Modernization Software IT Architect focus area, a discipline designed specifically ***to help customers leverage as much as 40 years of assets on the mainframe into a more modern look and feel*** and in some cases, the re-engineering of these traditional workloads to better address the business requirements of today’s on demand business era.

does it mean ***to allow customers to exploit our 40 years' experience in creating software products for the frame thanks to our decision to take these old products and change something to adapt them to today's requirements"..... I think I am out of track
Elena Ghetti
Italy
Local time: 08:26
Selected answer:convert ... to a more modern look and feel
Explanation:
Up till now I hadn´t found this text badly written, just rather IBM-speak, but this I don´t like at all. But, embarrassingly, I think I understand it. But I also looked up IBM´s web page on this - the reference, below - to confirm.

The IT Architect focus area is intended to do two things: 1) leverage ..., and 2) the engineering ... (which is where it seems to me that sentence has got away from the writer - these don´t form a matching pair).

What the "leverage" part is saying is that customers can convert their old applications (some 40 years old) to a more modern look and feel, being helped by IBM´s software experts, using IBM´s software tools. To a large extent, this means making conversions and additions to the old software to bring it into a GUI presentation.

The "re-engineer" part is where the customers do more than just present old applications in a new look, but actually get down into the applcation code itself, which in the "leveraging" remain unchanged.

I guess they used "leverage" coz they think it´s sexier than "convert". Better would have been "repackage", but that also doesn´t really fly as modern IBM marketing-speak. If you´re running out of track, it´s cause they are forcing you out. :-)
Selected response from:

Chris Rowson (X)
Local time: 08:26
Grading comment
thanks a lot for explaining to me the meaning of this whole paragraph which I had misunderstood. Thanks also to Marian for the explanation of the verb leverage, I used it in other parts of my translation
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +5convert ... to a more modern look and feel
Chris Rowson (X)
4 +2exploit sounds pretty close
davidgreen
4 +1take advantage of
Marian Greenfield
4elevare
Monique Laville
4integrate packaged applications and existing mainframe systems without the cost and lost flexibility
Sven Petersson


  

Answers


16 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
elevare


Explanation:
oppure portare a.....

Monique Laville
Italy
Local time: 08:26
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
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20 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
exploit sounds pretty close


Explanation:
leverage here is basically to combine all the info and innovations up to now. in order to use them as a Sprungbrett to reach a higher level. The word that sounds strange to me in the sentence though is "assets".

davidgreen
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jonathan Spector
2 hrs
agree  Rajan Chopra
1 day 6 hrs
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33 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
integrate packaged applications and existing mainframe systems without the cost and lost flexibility


Explanation:
integrate packaged applications and existing mainframe systems without the cost and lost flexibility of rewriting applications to fit a particular programming model or operating system

Sven Petersson
Sweden
Local time: 08:26
Native speaker of: Native in SwedishSwedish, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 160
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40 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +5
convert ... to a more modern look and feel


Explanation:
Up till now I hadn´t found this text badly written, just rather IBM-speak, but this I don´t like at all. But, embarrassingly, I think I understand it. But I also looked up IBM´s web page on this - the reference, below - to confirm.

The IT Architect focus area is intended to do two things: 1) leverage ..., and 2) the engineering ... (which is where it seems to me that sentence has got away from the writer - these don´t form a matching pair).

What the "leverage" part is saying is that customers can convert their old applications (some 40 years old) to a more modern look and feel, being helped by IBM´s software experts, using IBM´s software tools. To a large extent, this means making conversions and additions to the old software to bring it into a GUI presentation.

The "re-engineer" part is where the customers do more than just present old applications in a new look, but actually get down into the applcation code itself, which in the "leveraging" remain unchanged.

I guess they used "leverage" coz they think it´s sexier than "convert". Better would have been "repackage", but that also doesn´t really fly as modern IBM marketing-speak. If you´re running out of track, it´s cause they are forcing you out. :-)


    Reference: http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/zseries/announce/infras...
Chris Rowson (X)
Local time: 08:26
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 243
Grading comment
thanks a lot for explaining to me the meaning of this whole paragraph which I had misunderstood. Thanks also to Marian for the explanation of the verb leverage, I used it in other parts of my translation

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Peter Linton (X)
59 mins
agree  Pippin Michelli: I agree with you: the customers are exploiting their own 40 years, not IBM's 40 years.
4 hrs
  -> Right, you´re bringing out the crucial difference: not "our 40 years of experience" but "their 40 years of development".
agree  nyamuk: Not just IBM though, everyone in this sector uses leverage, Leverage gives you 'advantage' without the negatives like 'take advantage' or 'exploit' its not easy to understand unadulterated English but they are selling expensive goods, buyers understand it
4 hrs
  -> Yes, they all say it, and sometimes it means something, as here, more or less, and sometimes it´s just a linguistic tic, as in the other "leverage" question.
agree  Refugio
10 hrs
agree  Nado2002
12 hrs
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
take advantage of


Explanation:
leverage is corpspeak for getting the best advantage out of; making the most us

Marian Greenfield
Local time: 02:26
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 732

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  yeswhere: or gives customers the advantage of.....
3 mins
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