Kyndryl launches agentic modernisation service platform

Kyndryl has launched Agentic Modernization services-as-software, aimed at companies updating applications, infrastructure and operations.

The service is built on the Kyndryl Agentic AI Framework and delivered through Kyndryl Bridge, its platform for managing and modernising technology environments. Kyndryl says the model uses software-driven automation, intelligence and digital workflows to turn parts of modernisation work into repeatable processes.

The launch comes as companies face pressure to prepare older technology estates for broader use of artificial intelligence. Kyndryl's research of 1,100 business and technology leaders found that 79% believe AI adoption is moving faster than their organisation's ability to adapt.

That mismatch appears elsewhere in the survey. While 77% of executives said generative AI had already been scaled across multiple functions, only 32% said they were seeing one of their top desired outcomes.

Kyndryl is positioning the service around that gap, arguing that ageing systems, technology debt, tight deadlines and a shortage of specialist skills are slowing modernisation efforts. It has combined its engineering experience with tools from AI partners into pre-defined agentic workflows that can be reused across projects.

Those workflows are designed to cover a broad range of tasks, including discovery, code analysis, dependency mapping, target-state design, code generation, testing and validation. Kyndryl says its teams and customer staff will remain responsible for oversight, governance and accountability.

Ismail Amla, Senior Vice President, Kyndryl Consult, said the shift in modernisation was changing how companies approach large technology programmes.

"Modernization is becoming an operating discipline rather than a series of labor-intensive transformation programs that are difficult to scale and disruption-prone," said Ismail Amla, Senior Vice President, Kyndryl Consult. "As technology innovation accelerates exponentially, organizations need to move toward continuous modernization so they can adapt faster to changing business needs. With Agentic Modernization services-as-software, customers can transform iteratively and seamlessly using proven agentic workflows designed to handle changing business priorities and built on Kyndryl's deep mission-critical expertise and industrialized through Kyndryl Bridge, enabling faster execution and more predictable outcomes."

Bridge platform

Kyndryl Bridge sits at the centre of the offering. The platform has been used by more than 1,400 customers since its launch in 2022 and generates more than 16 million AI insights each month, according to Kyndryl.

Kyndryl says the platform has helped reduce IT incidents by as much as 50% in some environments. It also includes controls for cost visibility, security and regulatory requirements, along with what Kyndryl describes as agentic memory management to retain operational knowledge and context during ongoing modernisation work.

The company is presenting services-as-software as a way to run modernisation programmes with less reliance on scarce specialist talent. By using pre-built workflows, Kyndryl says customers can take on projects of different sizes and complexity in shorter timeframes and at lower cost than more manual approaches.

It also says the structure is intended to let customers adopt newer AI models and tools as they emerge without being tied to a single technology stack. That may appeal to chief information officers balancing investment decisions with concerns over governance and vendor concentration.

Industry analysts see a broader shift as enterprises move away from one-off transformation efforts towards a more continuous operating model. IDC said the use of AI agents in modernisation is changing the structure of these programmes while making governance and consistency more important.

"Agentic AI is reshaping how enterprises think about modernization, moving the conversation from large, episodic transformation projects to continuous, agent-orchestrated implementations guided by human expertise," said Bill Latshaw, Research Director, Worldwide Business Consulting Services, IDC. "Kyndryl's Agentic Modernization services-as-software, with Kyndryl Bridge as the foundation, reflects that shift, combining pre-defined AI workflows and operational expertise, critically with the governance and guardrails needed to enable organizations to modernize with greater speed and consistency by reducing indecision and complexity traps."

Early customers

Kyndryl cited three customer examples to show how the service is being used. A global car rental company is using Kyndryl AI agents to refactor legacy code in its software development lifecycle, with manual work that once took hours now completed in minutes, according to the company.

In another case, a global reinsurer used the service to analyse a decades-old mainframe estate with millions of lines of code and limited in-house expertise. Kyndryl said the work helped speed a move to a cloud-native architecture and cut data-centre exit timelines by 50%.

According to Kyndryl, a global financial services organisation has also deployed the service across engineering teams worldwide to support modernisation using AI-based operational insights and pre-defined workflows.

The launch adds to a growing market for tools and services that apply AI to legacy system renewal, an area many large businesses have struggled to address because of cost, operational risk and a lack of experienced staff. For service providers such as Kyndryl, the challenge will be proving that repeatable, software-led methods can deliver measurable results in the heavily customised environments on which large enterprises still depend.

Kyndryl says its teams and customer teams remain central to the process, providing human oversight, governance and accountability.