Why are people constantly droning on about drones!

You might be forgiven when you scan your social media or analyse TV footage that nothing these days can be done without a drone.

Drones in the creative sector are a game changer bring amazing cinema effects that were out of most production budgets until recently. Every TV drama, documentary and news item has drone footage ready to punch the message to you.

Of course, it is not all good and depending on production values you can often see the tell take shaddow moving across the landscape like a masked crusader and even my business uses a black drone shaddow for watermarking.

There is, however, a serious side to drone technology tha tis worth a look at in terms of applications in business.

Drones are being used in lots of exciting ways and there is a real drive by those of us using drones to make our World a better place.

Many will know tah the likes of Amazon and Walmart are already using experimental drone delivery services to take vans off the road and replace tehm with defined arial delivery using airborne radar to avoid collisions. ?The thought may excite many a baby boomer who grew up on comic books filled with images of hover planes and flying cars. The day this is reality is already dawning.

This week a German company announced the use of drones to deliver urgent medical supplies to remote areas. In Scotland tests are being run on using drones to deliver between islands (though they will fear no better than the boats in the current storm season.

Drones are being used for agricultural crop spraying, industrial scale painting and reducing risks to heath and safety in the workplace. Working at height particularly in construction is the most dangerous job in the UK with 40 deaths in the last recorded year’s figures. Factor in non-fatal accidents and the cost of working at height injuries is costing the economy millions of pounds each year in losses.

Drones can also be used below ground and underwater performing maintenance, inspections and checking for hazards.

In my business we see a role for drones in managing energy efficiency combining GPS based tech and thermal imaging and photogrammetry to produce 3d imaging reports that can be analysed consistently over time to assess the performance of a building or other asset over time as we move to a carbon neutral or negative environment.

The drone sector like many cutting-edge technologies is in the news. IT is not all good and issues of privacy and regulation are rightly a concern. However, if you have not already, looked at how drones can be deployed, it is worth a look now. They could help you start reengineering your business processes to reduce risk, save energy, gain an edge or just make the World a slightly better place. People may even start talking about you as opposed to the drones.