In an exclusive conversation with CXO News & APAC News Network, Hussain Zaidi, Vice President – Kyndryl Practices, Kyndryl India conducts a SWOT analysis of Kyndryl’s performance in India, outlines its GTM strategy and explains the dynamics of its industry partnerships.
What are the solutions and services currently in the Kyndryl portfolio in India?
Kyndryl offers solutions that are resilient, comprehensive and scalable in multiple domains including AI integration, cloud optimization, network modernization, and data and app modernization amongst others.
Our business has been organized around a carefully chosen set of six practices – Cloud, Core Enterprise, Resiliency & Security, Network & Edge, Digital Workplace, and Applications, Data & AI. We are building cutting-edge IP and service offerings in these specializations and expanding our strategic partnerships.
Kyndryl has built capabilities in Consult and Kyndryl Bridge Platforms that help us to advise, integrate, monitor, and manage operations in smarter and more cost-efficient ways for our customers.
Kyndryl Consult differentiates itself with a pragmatic transformation strategy that breaks complex problems into achievable projects with actionable and innovative insights. Our extensive skill sets and resources across the broad partner ecosystem enable us to execute faster and deliver accelerated business outcomes.
Kyndryl Bridge platform, a game-changer for IT operations, uses AI and Machine Learning to automate tasks, predict potential problems, optimize performance and is already helping early adopters save hundreds of dollars in annual operational costs.
We bring together the best technical capabilities across a broad ecosystem of partners with Kyndryl Consult and combine them with the data-driven insights of Kyndryl Bridge and the co-creation of Kyndryl Vital for accelerated business transformation.
In addition to these strategic initiatives and product offerings, Kyndryl is building strong alliances with key cloud hyperscalers (AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud) and continues to invest in innovation to develop new products and services.
How would you conduct a SWOT analysis of Kyndryl’s performance in India till date?
Kyndryl has been on a strong growth trajectory since 2021, continually expanding the customer base and strengthening our position in our existing accounts as the partner of choice.
As a leading technology services company, we were able to double our addressable market opportunity and expand our offerings horizon beyond specific technologies and platforms, which empowered us to create the best and most effective solutions to address the customers’ challenges. Our go-to-market model is aligned with customer needs and domain requirements.
Our evolving business mix is driving increased profitability. Kyndryl Bridge, our open integration services platform that harnesses AI to expedite automation and improve efficiencies, is providing customers with nearly $2 billion a year in annual savings. The platform has more than 1200 global customers operational on it till date.
Kyndryl Consult, our technology consulting arm, is a critical part of our wider strategy that provides mission-critical technology advisory, implementation, and integration services for customers. It enables us to meet businesses where they are in their digital transformation and provides a framework for flexible and iterative co-innovation.
We have also completed an internal transformation effort to transition to effective and efficient systems that drive fast, customer-focused execution. This has built a streamlined future-ready operations model by moving to a platform strategy with industry-standard technologies and reducing our app count from 1,800 to a few hundred.
What are the key pillars on which Kyndryl’s GTM strategy rests in India? What are some of the key initiatives under this strategy?
Kyndryl’s strategy has been focused on the 3As – Alliances, Advanced Delivery and Accounts – which have yielded significant positive results for us. In the fiscal year 2024, Kyndryl recognized more than $500 million in revenue tied to cloud hyperscaler alliances.
Advanced Delivery, powered by the AI-enabled Kyndryl Bridge platform, has successfully transformed delivery for our customers from a manual reactive correction mode to a proactive insight-based automated remediation, resulting in higher system availability. Accounts-focused execution has helped realize $600 million of annualized benefits.
Additionally, we have launched a cross-practice advisory function within Kyndryl Consult, one of our key offerings, that helps us bring together our best experts to solve our customers’ problems. We’re also implementing a “fields of play” framework that helps us identify the problems and pain points a customer has, and then develop a tailored approach to solving them.
Which are the key verticals where Kyndryl is witnessing maximum traction currently in India? Which are some of the referenceable marquee installations and what are some of these use cases?
Our track record in deploying cutting-edge technology and leveraging global partnerships to deliver goal-centric solutions makes us a trusted partner for our customers across sectors. Over the years, we have built a strong customer base working with customers from telecom to financial services, to healthcare.
In the telecom sector, we are working with a major telecom company to create a near-edge network across India for deploying applications that need real-time data processing. With Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), we are driving IT modernization by managing infrastructure services, increasing uptime with automation, and enhancing resiliency. In healthcare, Dr Lal Path Labs chose us to implement a cloud-based IT infrastructure to improve their agility, scalability, and security, enabling expansion into new markets.
We have longstanding and trusted partnerships with many key players in the banking and finance sector. Recently, Canara Bank chose us as their trusted partner to modernize their end-to-end IT operations and streamline service delivery across core banking, IT infrastructure, applications and network operations. We are also working with Suryoday Bank to drive the bank’s technology transformation program, improve operational efficiency, and increase digital banking adoption among its customers.
Our Business Resiliency Services works with the National Stock Exchange to transition the NSE’s IT into a modern, next-generation infrastructure and application landscape with built-in automation capabilities, improved security posture and resilience.
What has been the impact of AI on Kyndryl’s managed infrastructure services?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the world of business. It can augment human capabilities, automate processes, enhance customer experiences and generate new insights from data. But it requires a strategic vision, a clear understanding of the business objectives and challenges, a robust data infrastructure and a skilled, diverse talent pool to utilize it for future growth.
Kyndryl Bridge, our open-integration technology services platform, effectively harnesses the power of AI to accelerate automation, improve efficiency and strengthen security measures across the delivery operations. It delivers 100 million automation and more than 3 million actionable insights per month for customers.
In November 2023, we announced a multi-year Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA) with Amazon Web Services (AWS) focused on developing and delivering gen AI solutions and advanced ML Capabilities. The acquisition of Skytap has expanded our hybrid cloud solutions portfolio. The seamless integration of the Skytap platform with Kyndryl services provides access to 200+ AI and cloud services on Azure. We also have Kyndryl’s AI-readiness program that develops and delivers generative AI solutions.
What are the dynamics of the partnerships with the likes of Microsoft, AWS, Google, SAP, VMware and Nokia?
Our partnerships with major technology companies have been instrumental in accessing cutting-edge technologies while expanding Kyndryl’s service portfolio and delivering comprehensive solutions to customers.
Microsoft: The utilization of Microsoft’s comprehensive platform services and tools such as Azure Arc and Dynamics 365 has led Kyndryl to develop industry-specific cloud solutions. We are also collaborating to enable the adoption of enterprise-grade generative AI solutions for business. The alliance facilitates strong digital transformation initiatives in key sectors like healthcare, finance and manufacturing.
Amazon Web Services (AWS): Data-driven solutions and expedition of cloud migration efforts for the customers of Kyndryl have been successful with the help of AWS’s extensive global presence and leading data analytics services like Amazon Redshift and Sagemaker. We are also collaborating to provide mainframe modernization services and to develop and deliver generative AI and ML solutions.
Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Created AI-driven solutions tailored for various industries, including retail and smart cities by combining GCP’s focus on open-source technologies and advanced AI/ML with Kyndryl’s expertise.
NVIDIA: Together with NVIDIA, we will accelerate the development, implementation and use of AI-powered insights and business outcomes for customers. Kyndryl Bridge will support the end-to-end lifecycle of AI development and implementation in real-world business environments for customers running full-stack NVIDIA accelerated computing and software. The domain and industry expertise of Kyndryl Consult will speed up the customers’ ability to test, verify and deploy generative AI solutions, facilitate rapid application deployment and enhance operational experience.
SAP: Kyndryl and SAP collaborated on a digital blueprint capability that enables customers and partners to strategically assess, define and outline their migration and transformation plan for their transition from existing SAP ERP systems to SAP S/4HANA.
VMware: The partnership is centered on application modernization and multi-cloud services. It empowers customers to upgrade their digital innovation and business transformation while maintaining enterprise control.
Nokia: The alliance is focused on creating and delivering cutting-edge LTE and 5G private wireless services, along with Industry 4.0 solutions, to customers globally.
What are Kyndryl’s unique differentiators in the extremely competitive landscape of managed infrastructure service?
We combine the legacy and deep technology expertise of a 100-year-old company with the agility and innovation of a startup to deliver solutions suited to our customers’ needs. We work with several hundred customers in India across various industry verticals, and we drive cutting-edge technology projects for many of them.
Our repertoire of talent, skills and tools enables us to build and execute large projects at a scale and precision level that others cannot. We build long-term relationships with our customers – some of our global engagements started decades ago and continue to this day.
We are also co-creating transformational pilots for customers ranging from hospitals and educational institutions to auto manufacturers, micro-finance institutions and banks. Our goal is to bring in deep tech to help businesses, and throughth
What are going to be Kyndryl’s key focus areas in the next 12-18 months?
As we start our new fiscal year, we have pivoted from transformation to growth. We will continue to drive progress with strong execution on our three-A initiatives, growth in Kyndryl Consult, and our ongoing commitment to sign contracts that will generate attractive margins. We are targeting a return to positive constant-currency revenue growth in fiscal year 2025.
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