Walldorf – June 30, 2026 – SAP today announced that Nokia, a global leader in connectivity solutions for the artificial intelligence era, has signed a new multi-year agreement with SAP to accelerate its business transformation with the RISE with SAP Methodology. The company's SAP S/4HANA software environment is operated on Microsoft Azure.
The agreement, concluded at the end of 2025, is an important step in the migration of Nokia's SAP landscape to RISE with SAP. By introducing the RISE with SAP Methodology, Nokia is taking a structured, end-to-end approach to migrating its ERP landscape including processes, data, applications and operating models. At the same time, the company gains continuous access to innovations and integrated AI capabilities delivered through SAP's cloud ERP portfolio.
Nokia chose Microsoft Azure as the cloud platform for its transformation because it provides the global scale, security and performance needed to support the company's core workloads.
“Nokia's decision is a clear commitment to a business-focused transformation,” said Manos RaptopoulosGlobal President Customer Success Europe, APAC, Middle East and Africa and member of the extended Executive Board of SAP SE. “The RISE with SAP Methodology provides Nokia with a structured roadmap, a set of integrated and end-to-end tools and constant access to innovation. The company is able to modernize its ERP landscape while ensuring a clean core and creating a solid foundation for enterprise AI.”
A structured approach to ERP transformation
RISE with SAP is designed to be a comprehensive business transformation framework, not a point solution. It combines a standardized transformation methodology, integrated tools and expert assistance to support companies in converting legacy ERP systems to RISE with SAP.
SAP will operate and manage the SAP S/4HANA software environment in the cloud, freeing Nokia from focusing on infrastructure management and instead focusing on adding value to the business. The approach supports standardization of processes, operational simplification and ongoing innovation rather than a one-off system migration.
Nokia is already implementing a business and technical transformation based on its SAP S/4HANA software environment. This covers financial and key logistics functions supported by SAP solutions and applications. These include SAP S/4HANA for Central Finance, SAP Master Data Governance, SAP Extended Warehouse Management, SAP Global Trade Services and SAP S/4HANA Cloud for advanced ATP. AI-supported functions embedded in SAP's cloud applications will be introduced gradually.
“This agreement builds on our existing collaboration with SAP and Microsoft and supports Nokia's goal of ensuring alignment with our core business processes,” said Marek Očkay, VP, Global Head of IT Procurement & Vendor Management at Nokia. “With the RISE with SAP Methodology on Microsoft Azure, we are ensuring a structured and future-ready path for business growth – a path that simplifies our ERP landscape, enables continuous innovation and underpins our goal of adopting AI-powered processes.”
Microsoft Azure as a cloud base
Microsoft Azure will serve as the cloud foundation for Nokia's transformation with RISE with SAP, which is in line with Nokia's broader cloud and data strategy. Nokia already runs parts of its SAP landscape on Azure. Consolidating workloads onto a single hyperscale platform is intended to provide benefits in terms of performance, latency through security processes and operational resiliency.
As part of the agreement, Microsoft will work closely with SAP and Nokia throughout the transformation, supporting migration activities and ongoing optimization.
“This collaboration demonstrates how cloud platforms, business applications and AI can work together to support complex, global business transformations,” said Joacim Damgard, CVP, Europe North Microsoft. “By running SAP S/4HANA on Azure as part of RISE with SAP, Nokia is creating a scalable and secure foundation for ongoing innovation.”
Long-term business relationship with SAP
Nokia has been an SAP customer for decades. In recent years, the company has consolidated several ERP systems into a unified SAP S/4HANA software landscape as part of its “Next Generation ERP” program.
Moving to RISE with SAP supports this process and provides Nokia with a structured methodology to accelerate transformation, reduce complexity and benefit from native cloud capabilities.
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