Kony Platform 6.5 End of Life and Support

The pace of mobility and digital innovation is breathtakingly rapid at times.  The market demand for new innovation and richer customer experiences requires that mobile apps constantly add new features and cutting edge capabilities.  Kony is committed to help our customers through this process by leading the industry with our pace of innovation and support for new omni-channel experiences.  However, to take advantage of this innovation customers should stay current on the latest versions of the Kony platform.  

The standard support lifecycle for all Kony products provides normal support levels for two years following our general availability (GA) release.  During this period, customers with an active subscription are entitled to all product releases (major or minor), guaranteed support for all OS updates, critical security updates, access to 24x7 support, issue and defect resolution, and the ability request feature enhancements.  After the 2 year period, Kony products will reach end of life (EOL) status. 

On 1 August 2017, the Kony Platform Version 6.5 (Kony Studio, Kony Visualizer and Kony MobileFabric) will reach EOL status. This means, after that point in time, support for this version of product (or earlier) will no longer be included in your standard subscription license fees.

Planning to update your Kony platform is particularly important due to the mobile OS updates coming this fall (Apple iOS11 and Android “O”).  While official dates have not yet been announced, we expect Android “O” GA in an August/September 2017 and iOS 11 GA in early/mid-September 2017 GA based upon historical release schedules.  However, this support is only guaranteed for currently supported versions of the Kony Platform. 

This means that customers on Kony Platform 6.5 (or older versions) will not receive updates to support the upcoming OS releases; you should plan to either complete a platform upgrade prior to these dates or obtain extended EOL support.

We understand your mobile apps are a vital part of your business so if we can’t migrate your apps that quickly we will offer extended support for an additional fee for up to 12 months. Our goal is to work with you and your team to draft an upgrade plan that aligns with your business needs and objectives.

For more information, please contact us at EOL65desk@kony.com or contact our customer success team regarding an upcoming webinar on the same and scheduled for Tuesday, May 16^th.

SKY Technologies Support and Maintenance policies

Kony acquired Sky Technologies August 2012 and for the past 5 years, we have provided ongoing support for the Sky products while we worked actively on aligning the roadmap to integrate the core Sky technology into the Kony Mobility Platform.  This has resulted in:

• Integration of Sky’s backend integration with SAP into Kony MobileFabric.SAP integration now comes as an enterprise feature of Kony MobileFabric mobile middleware.
• Enhancements to Kony’s offline sync feature set that is delivered through Kony MobileFabric.
• Enhancements to Kony’s pre-built apps including Kony Field Service, Employee Self-Service and Pipeline Manager.

The Sky client libraries and custom Sky apps are reaching EOL status effective 15 September 2017.  This means that after this date, support of your backend SAP integration gateway will continue as usual as part of Kony MobileFabric however, you will no longer be able to obtain product support for these client-side components, and you will not receive updates for the forthcoming Apple iOS or Android OS updates coming this fall.

What are your options going forward?

1. Migrate from your custom app to one of our pre-built Kony Apps.  Kony Apps are built on the latest versions of the Kony Mobility Platform and provide an out of the box support for Field Service, Sales, and HR business processes and pre-integrated support for SAP.  We can assist with a gap assessment between your current app and one of our packaged offerings; moving to a packaged offering will also allow you to realize benefits from Kony’s ongoing app product roadmap and ensure support and compatibility for the latest OS updates.
2. Migrate from your Sky custom app to one of our Kony AppVantage custom apps.  Kony AppVantage will support custom built apps to achieve your unique business objectives; this offering brings together the software, hosting, services and app support costs into an affordable subscription fee that is built on the latest version of the Kony Mobility Platform.  This will also ensure support and compatibility for the latest OS updates.
3. Redesign your client side components using Kony Visualizer.  Using the drag-and-drop visual design and development capabilities of Kony Visualizer, this can help accelerate the redevelopment of your custom front-end app; your backend integration logic can be preserved and moved to Kony MobileFabric.  Kony can provide training or professional services to assist with this redesign and migration effort. Download Visualizer today to see the power for yourself.

Many of you may be using older (and often unsupported) versions of mobile operating systems (e.g. legacy Windows Mobile) and specialized ruggedized devices.  As part of this migration you may need to also plan for migrating to a newer generation of OS and device hardware supported in the market today.