14 DAY TRIAL // Nokia and Avanade have announced an agreement through which handset vendor’s Windows Phone-based Lumia devices will be delivered to enterprise customers as part of a package that also includes applications and services.
Avanade, a global provider of business technology solutions and managed services, will provide large enterprise customers with packages that include both its own application and system integration services, as well as Microsoft’s tech and Nokia’s handsets.
Furthermore, Avanade and Nokia will collaborate with Accenture to deliver Windows Phone expertise to these users, so as to support pilot adoption and testing of Nokia Windows Phone 8 devices.
According to Avanade, more and more employees want to be able to use their devices for both personal and work purposes.
Employees already use smartphones for email, web content, calendar invitations and other work-related functions, while also looking for being able to use them for more complex, mission-critical tasks, including content creation and customer relationship management (CRM).
“There is a significant gap in the market for a new class of business-focused mobile services and solutions,” Ian Jordan, executive vice president of Sales, Marketing, Innovation and Alliances at Avanade, said.
“Avanade and Nokia are working together to fill this gap; integrating Nokia Lumia smartphones built on Windows Phone 8, with business applications such as Microsoft Office, CRM and access to company information to improve collaboration, productivity and sales.”
At the moment, Nokia and Avanade are working with a large UK bank to replace existing mobile devices with Windows Phone 8-based ones, which come with Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint integration.
Furthermore, the two are working on the development of a new corporate enterprise hub for the company, so as to provide employees with the possibility to access corporate business applications, content and more.
“Additionally, Avanade is implementing Mobile Device Management (MDM) to apply security policies to the devices thereby simplifying provisioning and enabling the distribution of corporate business applications directly to the devices,” the business services provider announced.