Be there when the puck arrives

One of the most often-used sports quotes in business was uttered by Wayne Gretzky years ago.  Even Steve Job, one of the most forward-thinking CEOs in our lifetime borrowed it:

“There’s an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love. I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been. And we’ve always tried to do that at Apple.”

As cliche as this ‘ism” is, it has never been more appropriate than in our current environment.

How will your business respond to the pandemic era?

Every company is impacted by the pandemic.  Most have been hurt.  Some have flourished. Much of the current business talk refers to pre-COVID and post-COVID periods.  Eye-bot contends that both of these perspectives are fundamentally flawed.

Post-COVID will not resemble pre-COVID. Any business that is counting on a reversion, well…good luck. 

Predicting the future is a risky business. But leaders in any industry are adept at identifying trends and responses to those trends that will enable their business to provide the most value to their customers in a new reality.

Eye-bot Aerial Solutions is a leader in utilizing drones and drone data to help its customers, like those in oil and gas, construction, telecom and others to more effectively assist in the re-opening of businesses, monitor the cost of deploying new capital projects and deriving maximum ROI as possible. 

How we help our customers to achieve these goals:

• Remote monitoring services utilizing drone data to increase safety assurance. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA of course) is intended to “…ensure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance.” Traditionally, this mission was focused on events that could occur while working. The new reality will have to expand the definition of safety to encompass safety issues that can occur for simply showing up for work. This is a driving force for every business to embrace remote monitoring and drone data for all aspects of their safety protocols.
• The evolution of the traditional survey. Land surveys tack back to Egypt in 1,400 B.C. The  Egyptians used measuring ropes, plumb bobs, and other instruments to gauge the dimensions of plots of land for taxation purposes.  Modern surveying has certainly evolved, but the output remains the same – a 2D straight-down representation of a plot of land.  Going forward, the traditional survey will be digitally augmented with a photogrammetric 3D reality model (drone data) to expand the utility of a traditional survey and survey-grade accuracy will ensure pinpoint accuracy of digital twins.

• Drone Data is king. Employing predictive analytics will enable safety and operations personnel to target their efforts as opposed to general inspections. This will not obsolete humans; rather, this will generate both cost savings and efficiency gains by targeting the efforts of these professionals. Ultimately, AI will expand the ROI impact of predictive tools that will be used to pre-emptively diagnose problems and deploy resources up and down the delivery chain before it’s ‘too late’.

• Re-opening your business. Commercial acceptance and increasing adoption of drone technologies will be critical to re-opening sooner rather than later. While piped-in crowd noise at sporting events is a nice try, outdoor venues, such as sports stadiums, will not re-open until the safety of patrons can be reasonably ensured.  Workers carrying backpack units spraying disinfectants is one solution – a slow and labor-intensive solution.  There are new drones and drone modifications that enable the sanitization of these venues at a fraction of the time and cost.  This solution will enable thorough and frequent sanitization activities and help the owners, athletes and fans return to a semblance of normal. Cost reduction and revenue generation (re-generation?) is an optimal financial solution.

• Adoption will accelerate. Consider the impact of this scenario.  The ‘hanger’ for an on-site drone opens> drone powers up and leaves the hanger > drone follows a predetermined flight path and executes its instructions > drone completes its mission and uploads the data collected via the cloud > returns to the hanger to recharge and awaits its next mission.  This use case will further drive adoption, utilization of drones in SOP protocols and further reduce labor costs 

These are just a few of our thoughts about how the use of drones will impact the future of virtually all aspects of corporate operations.  One thing everyone should know for sure is that traditional thinking and practices will be relegated to the boneyard. No one knows where the puck will be, but those poised to embrace change will be the winners.