How Collaboration As a Business Strategy Will Increase Value

Image: Collaboration of Microsoft and Rolls Royce

Corporate Challenge: A leading airline engine manufacturer wants to leverage data to improve its next generation of product lines. However, big-data is not their area of specialization.
 
Ironbound Strategy:
Powerful brands are actively pursuing innovative ways to create value for their customers, employees, and society. The best brands never stop searching for enhancements. Sometimes the search for value creation requires resources, skills, capabilities, and expertise from another unrelated industry. The strategic solution often requires some form of co-branding, partnership,
and collaboration.

Ironbound Action: Airlines operate in a fiercely competitive low-profit-margin business environment. Flight delays destroy society value, and cause an enormous amount of frustration for airline employees and passengers. Rolls-Royce is the leading brand in airline engines with over 13,000 engines in operation for commercial use. By partnering with Microsoft, Rolls-Royce is able to consolidate big-data generated from numerous engine sensors to help airlines improve efficiency with more enhanced maintenance. The Microsoft Azure platform helps Rolls-Royce and airlines better understand information generated about the engines in real-time. Because one third of an airplane's weight is fuel, pilots can leverage predictive analytics to optimize on fuel for maximum efficiency, and the airline can pass new cost savings on to passengers. When multiple brands come together with the objective to create more tangible value for all stakeholders, the world benefits.