Valour Consultancy Launches Advisory Unit
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With the addition of David Thomas, whose former employers include Rockwell Collins (now Collins Aerospace), Thales and IFPL, Valour Advisory will offer procurement decision support, among other services.
Market research agency Valour Consultancy has launched a new unit, called Valour Advisory, that provides bespoke services for airlines and in-flight entertainment and connectivity vendors, as well as for providers of various other complementary cabin and cockpit technologies.
One of the new division’s key offerings is procurement decision support – a service that will likely be in high demand given that 97% of airlines intend to purchase or upgrade connected applications within 3 to 5 years, according to recent research conducted by the company. Valour Advisory also delivers benchmarking data, strategic planning support, customer profiling, market forecasting and end user research.
“The core of our business has always been syndicated services, where we produce a quantitative and qualitative piece of market intelligence that’s very detailed,” Daniel Welch, senior consultant at Valour Consultancy, told APEX Media. “What we’re plugging in now is technical expertise.”
“What we’re plugging in now is technical expertise.” – Daniel Welch, Valour Consultancy
To this end, the company is building a team of former employees of airlines, IFEC providers and other aviation vendors, with expert knowledge of on-board technologies, many of whom also have a technical or engineering background. David Thomas, who has worked at Rockwell Collins (now Collins Aerospace), Thales and IFPL, is the first to join Valour Advisory as a senior consultant.
During his 20 years in the aviation industry, Thomas played a role in the creation of the world’s first electronic tech log and supporting asset management systems, gained a wireless IFE patent and helped integrate IFE provider LiveTV after it was acquired by Thales in 2014. He also brings front-line operational understanding learned while he was senior cabin crew at British Airways in his early 20s.
Welch thinks the combination of technical expertise provided by consultants like Thomas, and Valour Consultancy’s ability to present key findings so that they’re easily translatable up the hierarchy, will allow Valour Advisory to compete with bigger global consultancies that often lack the domain-specific knowledge to help companies in this specific niche make more informed business decisions.
“One of the benefits of attending APEX events is that we get to catch up with familiar faces and build relationships.” – Daniel Welch, Valour Consultancy
Indeed, Welch has demonstrated the company’s technical translation skills as a speaker at several APEX events. “One of the benefits of attending APEX events is that we get to catch up with familiar faces and build relationships,” Welch said. “David actually approached us at a past event and we felt like it was the right time and he was the right guy to push this on.”
Valour Advisory has already received considerable interest from airlines since Welch posted about the new service on LinkedIn last week.