Nokia is changing its brand identity for the first time in nearly 60 years, as the telecom equipment maker shifts its focus towards aggressive growth. The company's new logo features five different shapes that form the word "NOKIA," and the iconic blue color of the old logo has been dropped in favor of a range of colors depending on the use. Nokia's Chief Executive, Pekka Lundmark, stated that the change was necessary as the company is no longer solely associated with smartphones and is now a business technology company.
After taking over as CEO of the struggling Finnish company in 2020, Lundmark set out a three-stage strategy of resetting, accelerating, and scaling. With the reset stage now complete, the second stage of accelerating growth is beginning. While Nokia still aims to grow its service provider business, its main focus is now to sell gear to other businesses. In particular, Nokia is looking to expand its enterprise business, which saw 21% growth last year and currently represents around 8% of its sales. The company's goal is to take this figure to double digits as quickly as possible.
Like other telecom gear makers, Nokia is partnering with major technology firms to sell private 5G networks and gear for automated factories to customers, mostly in the manufacturing sector. However, Nokia's move towards factory automation and data center's will also see it compete with big tech companies such as Microsoft and Amazon.
Nokia plans to review the growth path of its different businesses and consider alternatives, including divestment. Lundmark stated that the company only wants to be in businesses where it can see global leadership. Nokia is facing pressure from the macro environment, with demand from high-margin markets such as North America being replaced by growth in low-margin India. Despite this, Nokia expects North America to be stronger in the second half of the year.
Overall, Nokia's change in brand identity is a reflection of its changing focus as it seeks to expand its enterprise business and aggressively pursue growth opportunities. As Nokia looks to expand its presence in new markets, it will face challenges from both traditional rivals in the telecoms space and big tech companies looking to capitalize on emerging opportunities.
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