Ford and Microsoft announce extending their strategic alliance with the Hofm

The announcement of a new collaboration between Ford and Microsoft at the 2010 New York Auto show may have been big news but it was not necessarily a surprise. In the reinvention of Ford’s competitive strategy, strategic alliances have been a staple of the new direction.
While collaboration is nothing new for Ford, it has defiantly begun to align itself with differentiating partners. Eddie Bauer, Harley, and Shelby are some of the more well past collaborations by Ford; however, these alliances did not necessarily add much in the way of product innovations. They were merely not much more than brand name luxury models.
More recently Ford has been using its collaborative efforts for feature and product improvement. Thanks in part to the alliance with Microsoft Ford recently received the award for the most innovative auto maker in mobile technology at this year’s CES awards show. It looks like Ford and Microsoft are looking to extend their relationship further with announcement of the Hofm program.
The Hofm program is an aggressive plan to make electric vehicles and hybrids an affordable reality to general consumers. The program will work with electric companies and vehicle owners to better manage their energy consumption practices. This may seem like misplaced effort at first glance, but the shift of energy consumption from fossil fuels to the electrical grid is a growing concern. There are estimations that purely electric vehicles could double household energy consumption. Better management of the electrical consumption will be critical to states like California and New York.
Microsoft is not the only technological giant teamed up with Ford. De Walt, Serious, and Microlise are just a few of the collaborative partners. In 2011-2012 Ford is poised to be one of leading automakers in technological innovations and solutions.