Nokia wins a 2006 ITSMA Marketing Excellence Award

Nokia Business Solutions Portfolio Diamond winner in the “Sharpening Competitive Differentiation” category

November 17, 2006 - Espoo, Finland - The thought and commitment that Nokia has put into developing its Business Solutions Portfolio has been recognized by a respected marketing body, the IT Services Marketing Association (ITSMA), which has selected Nokia as the Diamond winner of a 2006 Marketing Excellence Award in the category of Sharpening Competitive Differentiation. The Diamond award is granted to the best in class for the industry, as measured by innovation, execution, and business results.

“I am extremely pleased to congratulate Nokia on winning a Diamond Award for Marketing Excellence in the category of Sharpening Competitive Differentiation,” says Dave Munn, President and CEO, ITSMA. “The Nokia Services Business Solutions Portfolio represents a tremendous effort, one that has allowed Nokia to raise the level of its conversations with customers and offer new value in an industry where technology alone is no longer enough to sustain long-term profitability.”

The Nokia Business Solutions Portfolio is a comprehensive concept created to tackle the most common business challenges that the operators face: optimize capital expenditure, reduce operating expenses, retain your customers, generate new growth and manage risks.

The portfolio project is a story of how Nokia has transformed to differentiate itself in an industry which is undergoing a number of significant changes globally, driven by technology, consumer demand and increasing competition. Achieving this turnaround required a cultural and operational shift, with hundreds of people working to identify the key business challenges facing mobile operators and re-align the technology-focused skills of delivery people into marketable business solutions.

The Business Solutions Portfolio, and the messaging surrounding it, has enabled Nokia to raise the level of conversations with customers and offer new value in an industry where technology alone is no longer enough to sustain long-term profitability. The portfolio is the core tool for Nokia’s sales force that has been trained to act as “Solutioneers” and is able to identify customers’ business challenges and offer holistic solutions.

“Solution marketing enables many new and topical ways to bring value to the market,” says Leif Fågelstedt, Service Marketing Director, Networks, Nokia. “We have recently launched Nokia’s Customer Retention and Loyalty program in the ”retain your customers“ and ”generate new growth“ spaces. This is just one exciting example of how a vendor voice can evolve and organizations can work together towards creating an approach that is focused on the customer needs and challenges.”

www.nokia.com/solutioneers

About the ITSMA Marketing Excellence Award
Launched in 1998, ITSMA’s Marketing Excellence Awards focus exclusively on the largest segment of the technology business: technology services and solutions. ITSMA will designate two winners in each category: Diamond winners (best in class for the industry) and Gold winners (standout achievement in improving marketing performance). The awards program jury consists of members of ITSMA’s senior executive staff, advisory board, and outside industry experts.

Categories for the 2006 awards include: Launching New Solutions, Sharpening Competitive Differentiation, Generating Demand through Micro- and Account-Based Marketing, Increasing Sales Effectiveness, and Strengthening Customer Relationships.

About ITSMA
ITSMA (IT Services Marketing Association) is a membership organization that specializes in helping companies market and sell services and solutions. With nearly 100 Corporate Members around the globe, including Accenture, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, Verizon, and Wipro, ITSMA provides best practice insight, an active leadership community, and hands-on advisory guidance around the unique requirements for marketing technology services and solutions. www.itsma.com

About Nokia
Nokia is a world leader in mobile communications, driving the growth and sustainability of the broader mobility industry. Nokia connects people to each other and the information that matters to them with easy-to-use and innovative products like mobile phones, devices and solutions for imaging, games, media and businesses. Nokia provides equipment, solutions and services for network operators and corporations.

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