The Drone Industry Barometer analysts, DRONEII, have announced the purpose companies use their drones. This year, together with INTEAERIAL Solutions, (which is part of INTERGEO), the third annual global commercial drone industry survey produced a free whitepaper with perspectives regarding the drone industry.
This survey highlights various challenges that the commercial drone industry continues to face, as well as, the changes compared to Last year, 2019, such as the complicated and constant changing drone regulations, to market growing pains and the coronavirus crisis.
The Drone Industry Barometer surveyed almost 700 companies from 75 countries and the research reveals some key trends in the drone industry, which will very likely prove useful for all stakeholders trying to expand their drone business in 2020 and beyond.
When asked to reflect upon the past year, respondents were more negative in 2020 than in the past two years, which partly shows that 2020 has been a difficult year for the drone market, because it has consolidated and thereby left some companies behind.
The results of the survey revealed that although inspections and mapping tend to be tasks that are usually outsourced to service providers, surveying and monitoring are more likely to be done in-house.
Why Companies Start Drone Programs
The main reason that companies start drone programs is because they are much more financially feasible, as significantly less expensive than manned aircraft, and they are smaller, and more maneuverable and agile, and therefore can accomplish more with less resources. Although drones are considerably cheaper to purchase and fly, cost was the last reason, out of four reasons as to why companies adopted drone programs.*
The survey points out that time is the main reason most companies adopt drone technology, which makes sense since drones can perform most tasks, such as surveying much faster than they can be done manually, and, therefore, overall productivity can be increased significantly.
The second reason that companies adopt drone technology is: to improve the quality of the work. As drones become easier to fly, and sensors are of higher quality, the data produced then becomes more accurate and easily processed. The third most important reason for using drones is to improve the safety of workers since drones/robots can perform difficult and/or hazardous jobs without exposing humans to such risk.
Beside the industry trends and predictions, the Drone Industry Barometer 2020 report, covers the most common missions performed by drone service providers, as well as, identifying missions that are typically done in-house. By being broken down by various segments, the report describes which drone industry is expected to grow in 2020, which segments expect to contract, and how expectations differ from last year, as 2020, with its COVID-19 under such difficult conditions.
The white paper provides the latest industry updates with all the important developments from the past year.
It is possible to download your copy of the Drone Industry Barometer 2020 here.
Resource allocation and product development seems to have experienced funding cuts recently since an increasing amount of money is being spent on marketing and sales by drone companies as well as staff development. This reflects a market maturity, as the market now has many more products and services which need to be sold. Most respondents, when asked about the impact of the coronavirus on their business, mentioned that there was a drop in demand or staff layoffs.
When surveyed, respondents said that since there is a serious need for products and services to be sold, E2E solution providers, and drone regulators, will play a key role in the industry in the coming years.
Future
When asked about the long-term impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the drone industry, 54% of respondents were hopeful, even optimistic, expecting a positive overall impact, which brings to light the positive view so many have of drones.
This is an encouraging sign as something as challenging as COVID-19 will not deter drone enthusiasts!
