Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK), the smartphone and mobile services firm, has struck a deal with Avanade that will put more Windows phone 8-powered Nokia Lumia smartphones in the hands of big enterprises.
The latest deal with Nokia will see the company creating and delivering packaged Windows phone 8-powered Nokia Lumia smartphones, and its related applications and services, to big enterprise customers.
As BYOD, “bring your own device,” has become more popular amongst employees, more and more are bringing their personal mobile phones, tablets, and laptops to the workplace.
A recent Avanade survey found that 54 percent of C-level executives and IT decision-makers reported that the majority of their employees use their personal smartphones for work emails, web content, and other organisational tasks. It also found that 42 percent of employees now want to use their personal devices for more complex tasks such as content creation and customer relationship management.
Despite the security risks this can pose, Avanade argues that greater use of personal mobile smart devices also requires the development of specialised applications to ensure integration across all systems.
The agreement between Avanade and Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) means they will be providing enterprise customers with Windows phone and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) infrastructure expertise in order to support pilot adoption and testing of Windows phone 8 devices, right through to the production deployment stage.
Niko Mykkänen, head of B2B Sales at Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V), commented on the deal between the companies: “The growth in the use of consumer devices at work has created opportunities for businesses, but also vulnerabilities that need to be addressed. Working together, Nokia and Avanade will create business solutions to meet the needs of the enterprise, as well as delivering the exciting user experience which people expect from today’s leading smartphones such as Nokia Lumia.”
Avanade is a privately owned business technology solutions and managed services provider that has long prided itself on its expertise of Microsoft products. The company was co-founded by Accenture Plc (NYSE:ACN) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), with majority-ownership to Accenture.
Despite the announcement of the deal with Avanade, Nokia’s shares are down 5.19 percent today, to $3.84.
