Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption is fundamentally changing how businesses of all sizes operate and perform, says Vickram Nagi, managing director, Kyndryl Middle East, Africa and Turkey.

Business continuity and maintaining operations as well as disaster recovery were some of the key challenges organisations had to face and quickly address, especially with the sudden shift of workforce to remote work locations during the pandemic.

“There’s no doubt that the global pandemic has forced businesses and governments to speed up their digital transformation. It was a wake-up call and a critical turning point to be able to do business differently. We have seen first-hand the impact Covid-19 has had on our customers and their employees.

"And while market pressure forced enterprises to seek efficiency and avenues for business growth, automation has become a key optimisation lever for IT infrastructure services, and Covid-19 has accelerated enterprise-wide automation adoption for digital transformation. Notably, enterprises that were early adopters of (intelligent) automation have experienced little or no pandemic-related disruptions related to their IT infrastructure,” said Nagi, who recently joined Kyndryl and as managing director in the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey.

Nagi has managed infrastructure business for over two decades and in his current role, he is accountable for customer success, growth, quality, transformation, and employee engagement across the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey.

“Building a new company comes with so much excitement and possibility, but Kyndryl does begin from a very unique place and with an important advantage – our people. Kyndryls are at the center of everything we do, and our leadership comes through 90,000 skilled practitioners worldwide who focus solely on running and modernising infrastructures, serving 4,000 global customers, including 75 per cent of the Fortune 100 and more than half of the Fortune 500,” said Nagi.

“As a business, we’ve made changes to enable us to be more nimble, anticipatory and make decisions faster. Our aim is to be able to meet customers where they are on their digital transformation journeys, with a lean and focused team that has the critical skills they depend on to succeed. I am truly privileged to be working with such exceptional and diverse talent and play an important part in helping the most important businesses in the region run smoothly and evolve to meet the future.”

Kyndryl was established through the separation of IBM’s Managed Infrastructure Services business, which will be completed on November 4, 2021. “On day one, we will be the world leader in managing complex and critical infrastructures with $19 billion in revenue and unrivaled expertise. We’ll be the number one Hybrid Cloud Managed Services company with market-leading size and scale – at twice the size of our nearest competitor. We are also starting out as a 90,000-person ‘startup,’ with a mindset and an organisation that is fast, flat, and focused on customer success and growth,” said Nagi.

According to an IBM Institute of Business Value Study of 3,000 CEOs worldwide, the number one challenge faced in the next two to three years is technology infrastructure. This presents a potential opportunity for companies like Kyndryl to uncover ways to help accelerate customers’ digital plans.

Kyndryl will be both key to supporting and improving the legacy systems and services upon which many organisations depend, and also a critical resource for customers who need to create the foundations for new digital transformations (e.g., connectivity, platform, and digital workplace services). Kyndryl will help customers by creating offerings that are unique and that encompass both digital transformation and help nurture critical legacy systems. Kyndryl is also in a position to use its expertise to help explain exactly how customers can achieve this and in what specific timeframe. This is what will cement Kyndryl’s position as a strategic partner of choice.