Tom Verbruggen
CEO
Have you ever watched that movie with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman where their characters race on a horse over the Oklahoma plains so whoever gets to a piece of land first can plant a flag in the ground? In that movie, Far And Away, planting your flag in a piece of land meant that you would become the owner of that land. It is referred to as the “Oklahoma Land Run”.
The “Gold Rush” is another typical name for that (Californian) era, where the land of opportunity opened itself to those who were able to see beyond obstacles and in doing so raced towards great wealth. Somehow, I cannot seem to erase this image that there is some similarity between those events in the 19th century and the booming of the drone business today. Both give the impression that there is a very large opportunity for success for those who dare to take risks early on. A “the early bird gets the worm”-type of reasoning. Just have a look at the popularity of the keyword “Drone” in Google since 2004.
The peak occurred in December 2016. Since then it seems that the hype has stabilised. However, what we have witnessed in the last 2 years is a shift from recreational or semi-pro drone activities to full-blown UAV companies that specialise in one or more fields, such as Agriculture, Real state or Cinematography.
Evolution Of “Drone” Activities
5 years ago, drones were thought to be a sure key for future success. Buy a drone, create a quick website, advertise your pictures on Instagram and boom, there are more work opportunities for you than you could ever imagine. But the truth is that it has become less of a gut-feeling hunch and more of a calculated exercise involving market studies, business planning, training, equipment and focusing on one (or maximum two) type(s) of drone activities.
The opportunity, on the other hand, is still there. Any job that has to be done in the air, and for which the current alternatives are either too costly or too dangerous, has the potential to be taken over by drones. And I am not yet talking about the transportation of goods and people by means of unmanned air vehicles (which will revolutionize urban mobility big time).
The conclusion is that opportunities are wide open for those who are willing to grab the market. For those who are willing to excel in their field. For those guys and gals, it’s a true land grab.
And IDRONECT is here to help achieve that.
Drone Management: Safety & Quality
Many years I have heard that safety and quality are just necessary evils when it comes to running an efficient aviation company. That they are one of those cumbersome functions you need to fill in. That they exist only because the regulator requires it by rule, not because they actually matter. That it’s a ticking-the-box type of activity.
The Flight Ops Manager rolls his eyes at you when you come and do another audit and check the accuracy of the paperwork. What good does it do in selling him more flights or getting more cargo transported? That extra safety feature or procedure measure surely means that the “flight ops-machine” is slowing down, no?
I beg to differ, and I have been working in both roles; both as a Flight Ops and as an Auditor and Safety Expert.
The point that we at IDRONECT are making is that when safety and quality are done right, they are indeed processes that propel your company to the front of the pack when it comes to drone land grabbing.
Why?
Because safety and quality eventually become built-in processes rather than disruptions. For cowboys, these intuitive processes are the equivalent of having a fully tuned full-bred horse racing to the front. In short, safety and quality processes are paramount to efficient project management.
And efficient project management is the key to better sales, better execution, better cost-control and yep, you guessed it, more drone market grabbing.
