Mainframe modernizations require expertise in security, data access and governance, and more.

By Petra Goude, Global Practice Leader for Core Enterprise & zCloud at Kyndryl

Businesses need to constantly adapt, anticipate and respond swiftly to fast-changing technological developments and economic shifts. But only 25% of organizations globally consider their IT infrastructure sufficiently ready to deal with such events, a new IDC whitepaper shows

IT modernization is also important — and becoming more prevalent — for businesses that run their mission-critical applications on the mainframe and want to ensure it becomes an integral part of their hybrid cloud environment. 

The good news is that despite some hurdles to modernizing mainframe applications — such as the dependency on specific languages, tools, software and infrastructures that aren’t available on other platforms — IDC revealed that most organizations plan to increase spending on application development and deployment in the next 24 months, thanks to modern programming languages now available on the mainframe.

Choosing a Strong Partner for Mainframe Modernization

As businesses modernize, they need to not only decide how to integrate their mainframe applications and data with cloud and mobile applications, but also answer other big questions around agility, security, DevSecOps, data access and governance, and more. To help, IDC has identified 13 fundamental requirements — including things like capacity, cloud compatibility and connectedness, among others — for modernizing mainframes and the critical workloads that run on them.

Additionally, IDC has found that to achieve these goals, most organizations need third-party expertise and professional help with their mainframe modernization. IDC also cited Kyndryl as a vendor that can deliver comprehensive, end-to-end mainframe modernization support, thanks to its vast experience and broad portfolio of offerings.

Only 25% of organizations globally consider their IT infrastructure sufficiently ready to deal with such events, a new IDC paper shows.

Petra Goude

Global Practice Leader for Core Enterprise & zCloud, Kyndryl

We are pleased with IDC’s observation and several other recognitions Kyndryl recently received from industry analysts. According to the ISG Mainframe Services & Solutions Provider Lens 2023, Kyndryl is a leader in Mainframe Modernization, Mainframe Operations and Mainframe-as-a-Service. ISG indicated that Kyndryl’s seasoned IT professionals help customers improve the value of their investments in mainframes, and that with its holistic approach, strong skills and adaptive mindset, the company is considered an ideal partner for mainframe modernization.

Also, Kyndryl has been recognized in a recently published 2023 Gartner® Critical Capabilities Report for Data Center Outsourcing and Hybrid Infrastructure Managed Services, Worldwide. Read more about Kyndryl and see Table 2 - Product/Service Rating in the report.

At Kyndryl, we want to meet our customers where they are — whether they are mainframe investors, maintainers or divestors — and enable them to take a holistic, end-to-end approach to determine the right platform for each workload. This means we help customers modernize applications and data on the mainframe, integrate with the hyperscalers' cloud or distributed environments, or move workloads off the platform.

With our leadership position and wealth of talented mainframe experts, we are poised to continue to drive the transformation of mainframes and deliver strong business value for our customers.

To learn more, visit Kyndryl’s Mainframe Modernization page

Gartner, Critical Capabilities for Data Center Outsourcing and Hybrid Infrastructure Managed Services, Worldwide, 27 June 2023, Biswajit Maity Et Al.

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