Kyndryl’s history begins with possibly the biggest splash among the top enterprise IT partners in the last year, when the former IBM division was spun off to boast the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider with annual revenue of $19 billion.
Kyndryl hit the ground running with the announcements of multiple strategic alliances in its first few months and a solution stack covering cloud infrastructure, applications, edge networks, cybersecurity, and implementation services. After a year in the works, IBM announced the completed separation of its managed infrastructure services business in November 2021. With tenured IBM leadership at the helm, Kyndryl’s network of more than 88,000 professionals in 100 countries is a giant player to watch in the IT channel landscape.
This profile offers a look at Kyndryl’s services and solutions, target markets, user opinion, industry recognition, and current financial position for potential channel partners to evaluate.
Kyndryl Solutions and Specialties
Enterprise Resource Planning and Application Management
Kyndryl shines in the vendor’s specialized managed services for the two most notable enterprise business solution suites: the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) and SAP‘s S/4HANA on AWS, IBM Cloud, and Microsoft Azure.
The company’s application management professionals can build sustainable performance and availability and consolidate monitoring and control. Kyndryl offers full-stack data management and artificial intelligence services to optimize enterprise resource planning (ERP) workloads through a data fabric framework.
Developing Cloud Infrastructure
With the critical role cloud infrastructure will play in the future of enterprise IT environments, Kyndryl Cloud Services helps clients develop curated solutions for a range of cloud business needs.
- Strategy and architecture
- Migration and modernization
- Public and private cloud
- Managed cloud services
- Security and resiliency
Its expertise in on-premises, cloud, multi-cloud, and hybrid IT environments allow Kyndryl to offer end-to-end managed cloud services up to entire data centers.
Read more: Top PSA Tools & Software for MSPs 2022
Managed Infrastructure and zCloud
In what the vendor calls mainframe modernization, Kyndryl offers managed infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) model to offer more uptime and high availability for clients too consumed with self-managed infrastructure. The enterprise services provider builds on its substantial experience with IBM Z and IBM i solutions to provide extensive outsourcing of core enterprise instances.
Meeting the Challenges of the Digital Workplace
Expanding connectivity and adopting remote and hybrid work arrangements mean a new generation of challenges for organizations establishing a digital workplace. Kyndryl hits on the latest trend with services for IT support, collaboration, desktop virtualization, and modern device management.
Company associates can evaluate existing digital workplace infrastructure, uses, and experience with data-driven insights that inform apps, support, procurement, and management strategies. These services are desirable for organizations looking to reduce device management and support costs, decrease support incidents, and enhance UX.
Next-Generation Networks: SDN, Edge, and 5G
Kyndryl Network & Edge is the unit devoted to bringing organizations up to speed and delivering core-to-edge coverage for IT infrastructure.
As 5G-enabled edge and software-defined networks (SDN) become the norm, clients need to take steps to evaluate their cloud-based application delivery, network services, security capabilities, and end-user device integration. Kyndryl’s specialties include SDN architecture services (SD-WAN, SDN-DC, and SD-LAN), network consulting, and managed network services.
Building Resilience and Cybersecurity Capabilities
With attacks on IT infrastructure and downtime becoming more costly every year, strengthening clients’ security and resiliency is a top priority for Kyndryl. The managed services provider‘s solutions include incident response and Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) for rapid failover and failback across legacy, physical, cloud, and virtual layers.
Besides consulting services for evaluating risk posture and risk management strategies, company professionals also offer data protection services, hybrid platform recovery, and data center services.
Also read: Top 15 Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) of 2022
Industry Recognition and Reviews
Though Kyndryl is a brand new vendor, reviews of IBM’s managed infrastructure solution categories provide cursory insight in evaluating the enterprise services provider.
The Forrester Wave
| Industry Report | When | What |
| Enterprise Content Management | Q2 2021 | Strong Performer |
| Cloud Data Warehouse | Q1 2021 | Strong Performer |
| Public Cloud Development and Infrastructure Platforms | Q1 2020 | Strong Performer |
| Continuous Functional Test Automation Suites | Q2 2020 | Strong Performer |
| Enterprise Business Intelligence Platforms | Q3 2019 | Contender |
Gartner Magic Quadrant and Peer Insights
| Industry Report | When | What |
| Data Science and Machine Learning Platforms | 2021 | Leader |
| SAP S/4HANA Application Services, Worldwide | 2021 | Leader |
| Cloud AI Developer Services | 2021 | Leader |
| Cloud Database Management Systems | 2021 | Leader |
| Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) | 2021 | Leader |
Though IBM holds reviews in almost a hundred different products on Gartner Peer Insights, the enterprise vendor has more than 400 reviews across the pertinent services categories:
- Business Process Management Platforms
- IT Infrastructure Monitoring
- Managed Mobility Services
- Managed Security Services
- Outsourced Digital Workplace Services
- Oracle Cloud Applications Services
- SAP S/4HANA Application Services
The first client reviews arriving for Kyndryl via the Data Center Outsourcing and Hybrid Infrastructure Managed Services solution category touch on the new service provider’s partnership mentality, expertise in mainframe technology and ERP hosting, and business transformation capabilities.
Read more: Best Partner Relationship Management (PRM) Software 2021
Partners and Alliances
Kyndryl’s partner ecosystem is a small but mighty group with 10 of the most recognized names in IT. The IBM offshoot starts with a global network of relationships with technology providers, which will undoubtedly expand its partner ecosystem in the years to come.
A week after its formal separation from IBM, Kyndryl announced Microsoft would be the MSP’s Premier Global Alliance Partner. Other strategic partnership announcements have come for Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and VMware, with Cisco, IBM, Lenovo, NetApp, Red Hat, and SAP rounding out the list.
Kyndryl Competitors
Kyndryl: Company Background
Kyndryl’s history is a shared one with IBM. IBM’s managed infrastructure services have long been available with the company’s comprehensive enterprise technology solutions. The elephant organization that is Kyndryl today is the largest divestiture in IBM’s 110-year history, bringing 75 of the Fortune 100 companies for clients and a workforce of 88,000 in 100 countries.
In October 2020, IBM announced its intent to spin-off its managed infrastructure unit and accelerate its hybrid cloud growth strategy. Channel Insider columnist Rob Enderle described why the split made sense upon finalization in November:
"IBM serves large clients that are often complex, multinational, and highly regulated. To serve those customers best, IBM has to become closer to them, not by working through the lens of Managed Infrastructure Services, but more intimately and freer to work through other localized service organizations when needed. These customers need enhanced security, want to harness AI, and ensure compliance across multiple platforms, including on-premises, public and private cloud, as they deal with their complexity."
Kyndryl’s business has sagged in recent years, including three straight quarters of sequential revenue declines last year. The company believes that being free from IBM will allow it to pursue previously off-limits business opportunities. If the company is able to land those new customers, it certainly has the pedigree and expertise to deliver results.
Learn more about IBM’s channel programs with our Guide to IBM PartnerWorld in 2021.
Recent Coverage:
- Kyndryl Hopes to Reverse Sagging Fortunes in Spinoff | Channel Insider
- Kyndryl Sets IT Services Agenda Post IBM Spinoff | IT Business Edge
- The IBM Kyndryl Spin-Off: When Separation Makes Sense | Datamation
- Kyndryl and Microsoft Partnering on Digital Transformations | Datamation
- Kyndryl and Google Cloud Partnering on Digital Transformations | Datamation
- Lenovo Taps Strategic Partners for New Everything-as-a-Service and Edge Solutions | eWEEK