A team from the Oregon Business Consulting Group (OBCG) delivered a holistic view of central technology trends for in-flight entertainment system maker Rosen Aviation.
Located in Eugene, Rosen Aviation designs and manufactures flat panel displays, source equipment, and accessories for the aviation industry.
OBCG is a professionally managed, student-run consulting organization founded in 2014 and housed in the Lundquist College of Business at the University of Oregon.
“We hired OBCG because we wanted an outside view of a key technology trend that will impact our customer's experience. We know we need to be out in front, but the market timing is not clear, nor is the best solution approach," said Darrell Finneman, vice president of engineering at Rosen.
The OBCG team, led by project manager and sophomore business student Jordan Hamada, decided to use a combination of secondary and primary research to understand the larger trends at play before talking with companies and industry experts. This OBCG team also included sophomore Thomas Martin and juniors Jeremy Kusnadi and Alex Marcinkowskiao.
The secondary research looked at four broad technology areas in content, media, streaming, and satellite data services for aircraft. The findings from this research narrowed the OBCG team's research direction. The team then contacted about 35 individuals or companies with expertise in the targeted content areas.
All of the findings were then brought to life in three specific scenarios. The first scenario represented what Rosen must do to stay ahead of their competitors in the emerging technology area. The next was OBCG's take on what industry leadership would look like. Finally, the team offered a scenario with out-of-the-box ideas for how to create some “wow" experiences for customers.
“The students went beyond reporting back their research—which was outstanding. They created compelling stories of what our customers experience would be," said Finneman.
“We needed to come up the learning curve very fast on a technology that has many different facets," said Hamada. “We challenged ourselves and delivered what we believe is a more complete analysis."
The team presented the solutions to a gathering of eight managers, directors, and vice presidents from Rosen, which put the findings to use immediately in their strategies and customer communications.
“I definitely plan to use OBCG again, and I am advising others in Rosen to do the same," said Finneman.