Kyndryl unveils AI services to enhance IBM Z mainframe automation
Kyndryl has launched new AI-powered services designed to bring advanced automation, decision-making capabilities, and AI-assisted delivery to IBM Z mainframe environments, aiming to support enterprises that continue to rely on mainframe systems for critical operations.
Mainframe focus
The updated services are intended for industries such as finance, telecommunications, government, and healthcare, where mainframes handle essential workloads including fraud detection, claims processing, and transaction analytics. Kyndryl aims to make it easier for companies to scale and integrate AI with their core data systems, reducing latency and improving the speed of real-time processes.
AI-enabled delivery
Kyndryl's new offerings include agentic AI mainframe services that support IBM z/OS customers in managing complex processes across application and infrastructure management. Agentic AI orchestrates automated workflows and enables faster issue resolution, providing predictive analytics and insight through integration with the Kyndryl Bridge open integration platform.
The services also feature the Kyndryl AI Assistant for Z, which acts as a knowledge repository built from Kyndryl's experience in mainframe management. The Assistant is designed to help organisations address skills shortages and accelerate responses to emerging threats or opportunities.
Industry challenges
According to industry research cited by Kyndryl, 88% of organisations have either implemented or intend to implement AI within their mainframe environments. Despite this interest, 70% report challenges in sourcing skilled talent capable of managing both mainframe and AI environments. AI integration on mainframes is viewed by organisations as a way to drive agility, automate operational tasks, and reduce costs.
Survey findings indicate that businesses anticipate AI adoption in mainframes to generate USD $12.7 billion in cost savings and USD $19.5 billion in new revenues over a three-year period. Most organisations expect improved resource allocation, enhanced security, and better fraud detection to be among the primary benefits.
Platform integration
The new agentic AI-powered delivery services can be used with IBM watsonx Assistant for Z and other AI platforms to provide automation and management across the mainframe lifecycle. By leveraging Kyndryl's intellectual property and partnerships across the technology ecosystem, customers are able to combine mainframe operations with cloud and hybrid IT resources.
The approach is intended to make mainframe management simpler, more reliable, and better able to incorporate advances in AI, according to company statements. Kyndryl claims that by moving AI inferencing closer to the data residing on mainframes, it is possible to further reduce latency and enhance both application performance and the customer experience.
Customer experience
"Kyndryl is leading the way in providing world-class agentic AI-enabled delivery services to customers that will instil confidence in the mainframe's role as an engine of innovation for global enterprises," said Hassan Zamat, Global Practise Leader for Core Enterprise & zCloud, Kyndryl.
"Through our collaboration with Kyndryl, we're helping enterprises bring powerful AI capabilities to the core systems that run their business," said Skyla Loomis, General Manager of IBM Z Software. "Kyndryl's newest AI services empower clients to deploy advanced AI on the mainframes that form the backbone of their operations to accelerate decision-making and drive operational agility."
