Our strategy
In 2021, Nokia set out its strategy to deliver sustainable, profitable growth by becoming a B2B technology innovation leader, accompanied by a new purpose and operating model. We set out actions to reset, accelerate, and then scale our business to lead in a world where widespread digitalization is gathering speed.
And as enterprises, webscalers and governments digitalize, they increasingly need the essential networking technology Nokia provides to succeed. Networks are critical to unlocking the enormous opportunities across industrial, enterprise and consumer spheres, as we outlined in our Technology Vision 2030.
As we move from the 5G era towards 5G-Advanced and 6G, the underlying networks will need to evolve. The networks of the next decade will need to meet the demands of fully immersive augmented and virtual reality, digital twins, and biosensors. These technologies will in turn unleash the full promise of the consumer, enterprise and industrial metaverses, which until now have only shown a glimpse of their potential. They will pave the way for true extended reality (XR) experiences, which will eventually lead to the merging of the physical and digital worlds and the enhancement of humans.
Early metaverse applications are already visible in industries which use digital twins, where significant uplifts in productivity, sustainability and worker safety have been achieved. We have helped to pioneer these advances by collaborating with customers and partners.
The successful and rapid deployment of these technologies will require a fundamental shift in connectivity.
We are embracing this opportunity to pioneer the next evolution of networking, where networks meet cloud.
Our strategy
Networks are the key enabler for the digitalization of industries and the realization of the broader potential of the metaverse. As a result, we see opportunity to grow our business, expand into adjacencies and transform our business model.
To reinforce our position as a leader and enabler of digitalization, we are confidently asserting the value we bring:
Networking expertise
We know that accelerating the digital transformation of every industry will be critical to unlocking massive gains in sustainability, productivity, and accessibility – our networking expertise is increasingly valuable to customers and partners as they seek to maximize their growth.
Technology leadership
We are specialists in the technology we deliver – with a laser- focus on delivering a best-of-breed technology portfolio.
Pioneering innovation
Innovation runs through our business – across our evolving portfolio, in the disruptive research and game-changing programs at Nokia Bell Labs, in our work to build the device and application ecosystems needed for digitalization, and through our innovation programs where we bring emerging technology to life alongside our partners.
Collaborative advantage
Collaboration is in our DNA, and we are valued for the trusted relationships we build with our customers. Today, we are going further: we know that realizing the potential of digital cannot be achieved alone, so we are focused on bringing the right partners and technologies together to create the digital services and applications of the future.
Our strategy consists of six pillars – key objectives that will define our success – and four enablers to help us get there.
The six pillars are:
CSPs will continue to be our main customer segment. We will leverage our strong technological position, investment in technology leadership and emerging opportunities to grow our share in key markets, with geopolitical considerations supporting this ambition.
Enterprise verticals and webscalers are deploying campus networks, wide area private wireless networks, enterprise physical networks, and data centers at an accelerated rate to digitalize their operations. Being a technology leader in all these domains, we pursue these opportunities to grow our enterprise business.
Maintaining our portfolio segments at number one or number two position, through several routes including active portfolio management, is critical for a profitable and sustainable business. There may be cases where a leadership position is not possible and for these cases, we will consider alternatives.
We are investing to ensure the sustained competitiveness of our patent portfolio. We will continue to pursue opportunities from sectors outside mobile devices, such as automotive, consumer electronics, IoT, and video services.
To broaden our customer base and change our margin profile, we see potential in new platform business models within the broader ecosystem. We engage with service providers, webscalers, industrial giants and emerging players like app developers and start-ups, to drive the creation of new products, services, and solutions, and to explore new business models including CloudRAN, Network as Code, and as-a-Service.
ESG is increasingly important for customers, investors, regulators, partners, and Nokia employees. There is space in our industry to become the ‘trusted provider’ and Nokia aims to claim this position. Our ESG strategy lays out how we will do this and our specific areas of focus.
The six pillars are underpinned by four enablers:
We have launched and are executing a new people strategy focused on growth, skills, and development. We build the right future skills for our employees in the technical domains identified in our technology vision and strategy, and the commercial skills to support our expansion into new domains.
Sustained technology leadership is a key driver of our success: it requires us to anticipate, shape, and invest in the next technology waves and breakthroughs. We continue to invest in long-term research to ensure a leadership position in line with our Technology Vision 2030. We are also deeply engaged in leading and influencing standards and developing standard essential patents.
We are increasing the digitalization of our own operations to lead by example with a set of ambitious, company-wide strategic initiatives to increase the company's performance and competitiveness, focused on efficiency, productivity and agility in internal operations, customer experience, and R&D.
With Nokia accelerating into the next phase of our growth strategy, we have refreshed our brand to reflect the focus of Nokia’s business as a B2B technology innovation leader. Our new visual identity is emblematic of an energized, dynamic, and modern Nokia.