In today’s always-on digital environment, organizations need more than visibility—they need intelligent observability that drives real outcomes. That’s where Splunk comes in. And with Presidio’s recent acquisition of Kinney Group, a specialized Splunk services provider, customers are now positioned to get even more out of their data.
Presidio has long delivered infrastructure, security, and cloud expertise across complex enterprise environments. Since 2013, Kinney Group has brought deep specialization in Splunk, particularly within federal and mission-critical sectors. Today Kinney Group is now the Presidio Splunk Solutions Practice, helping customers move faster, reduce risk, and unlock greater value from their Splunk investment.
In a recent episode of The Digital Decode, host Allec Brust sat down with Jim Kinney, founder of Kinney Group and now leader of Presidio’s Splunk Solutions Practice, and Cory Minton, Field CTO of the Splunk Practice at Cisco. Together, they discussed how this acquisition is already advancing observability, AI readiness, and digital resilience for customers.
The value of a unified approach
Presidio’s acquisition of Kinney Group brought together complementary strengths. Kinney Group had spent over a decade building a business around Splunk-powered observability and security solutions. Presidio brought enterprise scale, a broader service portfolio, and a strong partnership with Cisco.
“Presidio is a key Cisco partner,” Jim said. “Merging our Splunk specialization with their broad capabilities means we can deliver more cohesive, value-driven solutions to customers.”
This alignment is especially significant now that Cisco has acquired Splunk. With all three organizations connected, customers benefit from a more integrated, scalable, and secure ecosystem.
“This isn’t just about stacking technologies,” Cory said. “It’s about helping customers get to better outcomes, faster.”
Turning observability into resilience
Modern enterprises depend on distributed systems and complex digital services. As a result, observability is no longer optional.
“The two questions Splunk helps answer are, ‘Is it secure?’ and ‘Is it working as expected?’” Cory said. “If the answer to either is no, that’s a board-level concern.”
Splunk ingests and correlates data from across environments—cloud, on-prem, edge—and helps organizations monitor performance and respond to issues quickly. But the biggest shift customers are seeing now is a move from reactive repair to proactive care.
“When systems fail in the field, it’s expensive and dangerous,” Jim said. “With Splunk, we can detect anomalies early, establish baselines, and prevent issues before they become real problems.”
This kind of foresight doesn’t just minimize risk. It also protects performance, productivity, and customer trust.
Scaling Splunk faster with Atlas
While Splunk is a powerful platform, it can be challenging to deploy and scale—especially for teams working across hybrid environments. That’s why Kinney Group created Atlas, a purpose-built platform that helps teams onboard Splunk capabilities faster and achieve value sooner.
“Splunk is like a Formula 1 car,” Jim said. “It’s high-performance, but you don’t just jump in and drive. Atlas helps teams get up to speed quickly and start delivering results.”
Atlas includes tools for onboarding, optimization, and visibility—removing friction for teams and making Splunk easier to manage at scale. With Atlas now part of the broader Presidio offering, customers can move faster without compromising reliability.
Smarter data strategies, better outcomesOne of the most common challenges with Splunk is data overload. Many organizations default to sending all logs and telemetry into the platform, which can drive up costs without adding insight.
“Splunk is a high-performance engine,” Cory said. “You don’t want to fuel it with low-value data.”
The Presidio Splunk Solutions Practice works with customers to segment data by business impact. High-value data is prioritized for Splunk analysis. Less critical data can be archived or processed elsewhere, often using federated search to maintain access without bloating the platform.
The result is a smarter, more cost-effective observability strategy that doesn’t compromise visibility or performance.
Supporting AI governance and future-ready operations
As enterprises adopt artificial intelligence and machine learning, observability plays a growing role in ensuring these technologies are used responsibly.
“AI is another digital service,” Cory said. “It needs to be observable, just like any app or system.”
With Splunk, organizations can monitor AI performance, track how models are used, and ensure governance policies are followed. Presidio helps customers design architectures that make this possible from the start.
“AI without data is just potential,” Jim added. “With the right foundation in place, AI becomes something you can trust—and use to create real impact.”
What this means for your business
The combination of Presidio and Kinney Group is already helping customers move faster, operate more efficiently, and prepare for what’s next. Whether it’s AI, observability, or system performance, organizations are getting the guidance and platforms they need to stay resilient.
“We believe in Splunk as a platform,” Jim said. “But it’s the Presidio people who help make it work for real business outcomes.”
As infrastructure becomes more complex and expectations continue to rise, that kind of support will only become more critical.
“AI is here, and it’s changing how businesses operate,” Cory said. “The question isn’t whether you’ll adopt it—but how responsibly and effectively you’ll do it.”
Want to learn more about how the Presidio Splunk Solutions Practice is helping customers evolve their observability strategies with Splunk? Listen to the full conversation on The Digital Decode—available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
