To thrive in the cloud era of networking, operators need to evolve to on-demand service delivery and automated network operations models. The Nokia Network Services Platform (NSP) unifies carrier SDN automation, network optimization and assurance over multi-vendor IP/optical networks so that service providers can deliver on-demand network services faster, more profitably and at greater scale than ever before. This application note summarizes the challenges network operators face as they enter the cloud and IoT era of networking and outlines how the NSP addresses them so operators can transform their existing networks to deliver the services they want, with the profitability they need.