Alliances and partnerships
Kyndryl establishes SAP Center of Excellence to accelerate agentic AI‑driven transformation for customers
Press release
27 Jan. 2026
Kyndryl’s latest collaboration with Nova Intelligence and opening of a new SAP Center of Excellence (CoE) underscore our commitment to working with partners and solutions providers to help our mutual customers realize the full potential of their SAP transformations. According to the 2025 Kyndryl Readiness Report, only about one-third of business leaders who believe AI will transform their organizations also believe their companies are ready to modernize.
Expertise in business and technology empowers Kyndryl to develop innovative problem-solving approaches for our customers. These are the types of innovations that erase technical debt while protecting legacy IT investments, and help position organizations to reap positive ROI on their AI investments as they assume leadership positions in their industries.
Here, Clay Caldwell, Kyndryl’s SVP for SAP Growth, shares his views on two major developments in Kyndryl’s ability to serve its SAP customers — a new Clean Field approach that leverages its collaboration with Nova Intelligence to help organizations modernize faster and more cost efficiently; and the opening of a new SAP Transformations Center of Excellence (CoE) where customers and Kyndryl can design and co-create fit-for-purpose, AI-infused SAP solutions.
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What is the Clean Field approach to SAP, and what characteristics distinguish it?
Caldwell: The Clean Field approach is a “Goldilocks” option between Brownfield and Greenfield SAP transformations. It accelerates modernization by customizing SAP code while supporting Clean Core principles, enabling faster migrations at lower cost and future-ready scalability. By applying Nova Intelligence’s AI agents, Kyndryl’s Clean Field for SAP approach reduces manual remediation work, speeds outcomes, and helps customers migrate data and processes more efficiently.
Nova Intelligence provides AI agents that automate and accelerate complex SAP modernization tasks. In Kyndryl’s Clean Field approach, Nova Intelligence’s agents analyze and remediate custom code. When applied with our modernization services, they streamline migrations to SAP S/4HANA, and enhance compliance with Clean Core standards. The result is improved speed, reduced cost, and a more adaptable SAP environment ready for continuous innovation.
Why did Kyndryl create an SAP Center of Excellence (CoE)?
Caldwell: We wanted to provide an innovative environment for the convergence of cross-industry expertise in business and technology — a digital home where customers could work directly with Kyndryl’s designers and engineers to accelerate their SAP transformations using AI. Specifically, our CoE will enable the combination of our deep SAP expertise with Kyndryl’s Agentic AI Framework to help organizations modernize faster, reduce technical debt, and build secure, scalable digital platforms that support long-term growth.
The Clean Field approach is a ‘Goldilocks’ option between Brownfield and Greenfield SAP transformations. It accelerates modernization by customizing SAP code while supporting Clean Core principles, enabling faster migrations with lower cost and future‑ready scalability.
Are customers seeing results?
Caldwell: Yes! In one engagement, Kyndryl deployed its Clean Field approach to support a leading European industrial food company in migrating from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA. AI agents reduced the project duration and labor required, enabled 100% Clean Core compliance, and helped deliver a modern, future-ready SAP platform for the customer. This is exactly how combining Kyndryl’s SAP expertise, our Clean Field approach and AI can help deliver faster, more cost-effective SAP modernization outcomes.
What’s next?
Caldwell: With the SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA migration path quickly approaching, businesses are confronting more than a technical upgrade — they’re facing a strategic inflection point as time and resources are under pressure. Building on the momentum of Kyndryl’s Clean Field approach and SAP Transformations Center of Excellence, we continue to expand our proven expertise, end-to-end services, and scalable capabilities to meet customers where they are on their IT transformation journey. Ultimately, helping them turn urgency into opportunity and create a digital foundation that will support their business of today and tomorrow.
