So you’ve obtained executive buy-in for a drone program at your company, and started small. By achieving gains in efficiency and overall safety, you’ve made a strong case for expansion. How do you take the next step forward without jeopardizing what you’ve already built?
Scaling your drone operation can seem daunting. With a little smart planning and prioritization, you’ll have an easier time moving forward.
Scaling your drone operation can seem daunting. With a little smart planning and prioritization, you’ll have an easier time moving forward.
1. Manage your data
Even if you’re flying a drone for simple photogrammetry, you have an opportunity to apply algorithm analysis and increase the quantity and quality of the data you gather. Skyward partner PrecisionHawk applies algorithms that can determine whether crops are diseased or need fertilizer, as well as their eventual yields. As your business grows, extracting more actionable data from each flight will become a vital means to increase the efficiency and value of your operation.
With all this information, storage and management increasingly become concerns. How long do you need to store your data? How can you best search and maintain these databases as they grow? Thinking about these questions now and planning ahead will spare you a few headaches further down the road.
Even if you’re flying a drone for simple photogrammetry, you have an opportunity to apply algorithm analysis and increase the quantity and quality of the data you gather. Skyward partner PrecisionHawk applies algorithms that can determine whether crops are diseased or need fertilizer, as well as their eventual yields. As your business grows, extracting more actionable data from each flight will become a vital means to increase the efficiency and value of your operation.
With all this information, storage and management increasingly become concerns. How long do you need to store your data? How can you best search and maintain these databases as they grow? Thinking about these questions now and planning ahead will spare you a few headaches further down the road.
2. Have strong internal systems
No matter what industry you’re in, having strong internal systems in place will make the process of scaling up run exponentially smoother—and this tip goes double if you’re in a particularly complex industry such as construction and engineering or media. So many moving pieces at any given moment (permits, personnel, equipment, schedules, multiple vendors) introduce variables and increase risks. As your operation scales up, you’ll find it increasingly important to have an easy-to-use system to manage all of these details, especially once you start coordinating multiple jobs in separate locations with different flight crews and managers. You’ll want to know that every crew is following the same processes, that aircraft are being maintained to the same sets of standards, and that everyone is meeting internal and regulatory compliance.
If you haven’t already, come to one of our weekly live demos to see how Skyward can help you accomplish these goals.
3. Be flexible with pricing
We get dozens of emails every week from individuals and big companies asking for advice on pricing drone services. Because the industry is so new, everyone is wondering how much to charge for aerial services and data. You have to start somewhere, but rest assured that the pricing structure you start with doesn’t have to stay the same forever.
This doesn’t necessarily mean finding ways to charge more. Experiment with charging by the hour, by deliverable, or by the day—you can go after different parts of the market with different options. Take PrecisionHawk, for example. They charge farmers 10 cents per acre to process crop data, and 20 cents per acre to store the data. They adapted their pricing to their farmer clients, who are accustomed to thinking by the acre. Once you find an approach that works, a clear, tiered pricing structure will help further expand your customer base. People like to be given choices, and it’s best if they’re choosing between your offerings than between you and a competitor.
A hybrid pricing structure might also be the right approach, depending on your offerings and capabilities. Certain deliverables require expensive software or intensive, time-consuming analysis. If these deliverables aren’t profitable after you’ve factored in travel, time, and opportunity cost, don’t be afraid to turn down that work, or raise the price to reflect your investment.
Read Full Article Here: 6 Tips For Scaling Your Drone Operation
