Bless you: Yep, it's IBM's new name for tech services spinoff and totally not a hayfever medicine

Logowatch It has been a busy couple of months for creatives toiling away in IBM's strategy boutique but the team has conjured marketing magic with a scintillating new brand name that will head up the breakaway Global Technology Services unit.

Kyndryl. Whisper it again. Kyndryl. It will be synonymous with quality tech infrastructure services, Big Blue promises. GTS will be spun out into a newly traded public entity in 2021 that until today's daring rebrand was simply known as New Co.

"Kyndryl evokes the spirit of true partnership and growth," said Martin Schroeter, CEO at Kyndryl, which is definitely not a rural family dental practice with a sense of humour.

"Customers around the world will come to know Kyndryl as a brand that runs the vital systems at the heart of progress, as an independent company with the best global talent in the industry."

New York-based Kyndryl, says IBM, is a "modern adaptation" of two words that are "central" to the ID and mission of the services unit: "Kyn" was derived from kinship as "relationships with people – employees, customers and partners – are at the centre of the strategy, and that long-lasting relationships must be built and nurtured." The second component, "Dryl", was drawn from tendril, "bringing to mind new growth and the idea that… the business is always working toward advancing human process."

IBM has worked hard to nurture talent in the soon-to-be renamed division – too hard, some might say. It has relentlessly let blood in GTS over the past seven years to keep innovation fresh and help develop the next generation of workers. The company has also sensibly managed the multibillion-dollar slide in the division's revenues to the point that GTS can stand on its own two feet. The spin-off is natural evolution and another step in the history of IBM.

With this theme in mind, Kyndryl chief marketing officer Maria Bartolome Winans said the new brand is "just the start of the journey" – though, according to one respected Wall Street analyst, the split represents the possible end of a career at IBM for thousands of GTS staff.

Bartolome Winans added: "The meaning of the name will be built and enhanced over time from our behaviours, aspirations and actions, and what we enable our customers to do. Our vision is to be the leading company that designs, runs and modernises the critical technology infrastructure of the world’s most important businesses and institutions, ultimately powering human progress."

Join with us, Reg readers, in ushering in a new era for IBM's outgoing services unit, forever to be known as Kyndryl. ®