Nokia Cuts 300 Jobs, Outsources Up To 820 More To HCL And Tata To ‘Align IT With Its Business Focus’
Here's the cloud to Nokia's silver lining statement the other day of better than expected handset sales: it is cutting IT 300 jobs, and outsourcing 820 more, with Indian outsourcing giants HCL …
Context & Ripple Effects
Nokia had already paired workforce reductions with external delivery in 2011, when it moved 3,000 Symbian roles to Accenture alongside 4,000 cuts. The latest IT changes extend that operating model beyond the Symbian transition.
The move lands after Nokia said preliminary fourth-quarter 2012 results exceeded expectations and reported 4.4 million Lumia sales, showing that a better handset quarter did not halt back-office restructuring.
First-order effects
- Nokia eliminates 300 IT roles and shifts up to 820 more roles to HCL and Tata, reducing the work retained inside its IT organization.
- HCL and Tata gain responsibility for the transferred IT work and the associated Nokia personnel.
Second-order effects
- Nokia’s internal technology leadership must manage suppliers rather than directly run the transferred functions, making vendor coordination part of its business-alignment plan.
- The shift reinforces HCL and Tata’s position as providers able to absorb enterprise IT operations from a large handset maker during restructuring.
Third-order effects
- Nokia’s earlier Accenture transfer and the HCL/Tata arrangement point to a restructuring pattern in which technology companies retain business direction internally while moving operational IT staffing to specialist service firms.
The trend: Enterprise IT restructuring is moving from one-off layoffs toward a combined model of smaller internal teams and outsourced operational delivery.