When building teams at scale that can manage and modernize mainframe environments and support new technologies like AI, it can be challenging to find the right experts. We leverage Interskill’s platform to upskill our talent in mainframe skills.
Viviane Sanches, Director of Learning, Development and Enablement Strategy at Kyndryl.
Why Kyndryl chose Interskill
- Unique learning structure
- Flexible options to upskill or reskill
- Dynamic and up to date content
- Digital badges for credentialing
Kyndryl is a leading provider of mission-critical enterprise technology services, a designation backed by commitment. Bound in Kyndryl’s name are the principles that power its work. “Kyn” comes from “kin,” representing the strong bonds formed with customers and with each other. And as people are at the heart of Kyndryl’s business, “-dryl” is coined from “tendril,” evoking new growth and connections.
Kyndryl’s approach to drive both customer and employee growth is apparent.
Across its massive global team of over 75,000 professionals, including more than 7,000 mainframe experts, Kyndryl demonstrates its commitment to providing the very best and brightest talent to support its customers by providing ongoing education to its employees. To serve its mainframe training needs, Kyndryl partners with Interskill.
Interskill Learning is the world’s most delivered, most IBM-credentialed mainframe training. Online and on-demand, Interskill’s mainframe skilling platform combines a massive library of self-paced courses, expert videos, skills assessments, hands-on labs, and coaching/mentoring tools, with IBM digital credentialing.
The Interskill platform helps to turn new IT professionals into skilled mainframers and reskill existing Kyndryl employees into versatile, multi-skilled mainframers. The result is an internal mainframe talent pool at its best and built at scale.
As the largest IT infrastructure services provider running the mission-critical systems that the world depends on, it is our responsibility to provide the skills that our customers need. They come to us for a vibrant, skilled mainframe workforce that can help them run and transform their IT.
Shelley Westman, Vice President of Business Development and Go-to-Market at Kyndryl.
Kyndryl selected Interskill because of its unique learning structure
“We haven’t really seen anything like this platform in the industry,” said Viviane. “Training offered is usually quite generic and high level, but not easily applied to the specifics of the mainframe. This is an important requirement though, as well as IBM badge credentialing because that helps to validate the skills level of the team.”
Using a generic, ad-hoc approach to training with occasional instructor-led and on-the-job training and manuals, is outdated. “That is decades behind today’s workforce training needs and best practices,” said Darren Surch, CEO of Interskill and one of only two Lifetime IBM Champions for IBM Z.
Using outdated training approaches would mean it can take 2-5 years to upskill a new hire with appropriate mainframe skills. To keep pace with today’s rapidly changing IT environment, Kyndryl needs a skilling solution that is more powerful and efficient.
Kyndryl’s sophisticated education approach, blending Kyndryl credentialing with Interskill training and IBM credentialing, provides a powerful framework for quick wins and scalability. This approach allows its professionals to complete their skilling journey online and self-paced, combining courses and assessments on specific topics with badge credentialing, while prioritizing the applicability of the skills acquired. Once the credentials have been earned, they can promote their technical expertise to their customers.
This credentialing, often referred to as “digital badges,” means customers can feel confident in the knowledge and expertise of their Kyndryl team.
Digital credentials are a proof point. It’s a benchmark that proves an attained level of skills against a standard, recognized measure.
Shelley Westman, Vice President of Business Development and Go-to-Market at Kyndryl.
Interskill has extensive experience issuing digital badges for credentialing, with 80% of the IBM digital badges awarded for mainframe training issued by its platform. Backed by a dedicated learning success team and advanced reporting and analytics, Interskill provides demonstrable ROI through verifiable learning.
Educating the workforce is clearly important to Kyndryl’s customers, who can be confident in knowing that Kyndryl’s workforce is verifiably highly skilled, ready to deliver the very best results. Kyndryl also knows that upskilling is an important talent tool – both for talent acquisition and retention.
Employees want to work for a company who values their contributions. Our professionals value our commitment to employee development. Everyone has different learning styles; some prefer to spend eight hours straight and some prefer bite-sized training. The power of Interskill’s online and on-demand platform is that it adapts to what works for each employee. It also allows the team to keep current on emerging data and trends within the mainframe world, as Interskill’s content stays up to date. It is well written, well-illustrated and dynamic.
Shelley Westman, Vice President of Business Development and Go-to-Market at Kyndryl.
Interskill’s flexibility allows teams to upskill and reskill based on their needs and it allows companies to train entire teams without the cost and logistical challenges of managing expensive onsite training across multiple locations. These attributes also support Kyndryl’s talent acquisition and retention needs.
Bundling Interskill’s training platform and digital credentials with Kyndryl’s learning paths, strategic face-to-face sessions and mentoring, allows Kyndryl employees to have a clearly defined career path that they can follow. And credentialing via digital badges makes it easier for the management team to track progress achieved.
As of April 2025, Kyndryl teams have accumulated approximately 78,000 badges, of which 51% have been issued by Interskill.
Kyndryl invests in a robust, multi-faceted training approach with Interskill at the heart of it, as part of its commitment to keeping the team’s skills at the highest level for the benefit of its customers.
Kyndryl’s position as the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider is tied among other things to having a workforce of many thousands of expert professionals whose skills can be directly applied to the benefit of our customers. Interskill is an important contributor to the skills-building of our people.
Viviane Sanches
About Kyndryl
Kyndryl is a leading provider of mission-critical enterprise technology services offering advisory, implementation and managed service capabilities to thousands of customers in more than 60 countries. As the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider, the company designs, builds, manages and modernizes the complex information systems that the world depends on every day. For more information, visit www.kyndryl.com. Join us: https://www.kyndryl.com/us/en/careers.
Shelley Westman is a Vice President at Kyndryl, focusing on business development and go-to-market. She has extensive experience and has fulfilled various commercial leadership roles in mainframe modernization, cybersecurity and digital transformation. Shelley is passionate about learning and mentoring. She started her career practicing law and now considers herself a ‘recovering lawyer’.
Viviane Sanches is a Director at Kyndryl, with over 20 years of experience in the mainframe world, has holistic experience in IT outsourcing services, encompassing technical operations, people management, strategic leadership and skills development. She is currently leading Kyndryl’s global skills strategy for the Core Enterprise & zCloud practice organization. Viviane has a strong passion for learning, sharing experiences, and fostering collaborative environments leveraging innovative, digital and AI methods.
About Interskill
Interskill is the core mainframe workforce skilling resource of mainframe organizations around the world. Led by CEO and Lifetime IBM Champion, Darren Surch, Interskill delivers over a million hours of mainframe training annually and powers 80% of all IBM digital badges awarded by IBM for mainframe training. Strategic, data-driven, mainframe workforce training that produces real learning, real progress, real results, real ROI!
Visit www.staging.interskill.com to learn more.