Drones in Big Business:The State of DronesAt 50M+
2018 STATE OF COMMERCIAL DRONE USE REPORT WEBINAR
JUNE 5, 2018 • 10 am PT
PANEL INTRODUCTION
Erin OlsenDirector, Marketing@erinkolsen
Paul Abel,Ph.D. Managing PartnerBlue Research
Matt FanelliDirector of Strategy@skywardio
Mariah ScottPresident@mjonscott
Agenda
Blue Research Report
Live Q&A
LAANC & Regulatory Updates
Welcome
4
Manage your people, projects, and equipment in one efficient workflow.
DELIVERFLY ANALYZE & IMPROVEPROCESSPLAN PROVISION
What we were trying to learn: ● How big is the commercial drone
market? ● Are these companies seeing value? ● What challenges are companies
encountering?
How does this differ from other market research? ● Focused on companies over 50M
(not hardware)● Spans all industries
(not specific to one vertical)
Understanding the Commercial Drone Market
What did we find out?
● One in ten $50M+ businesses currently use drones.
● Drones are considered extremely valuable and deliver a positive ROI.
● ‘Staying up to date with laws and regulations’ and ‘ensuring internal policies are followed’ are common challenges.
● Drone use, investment and adoption are all expected to show positive growth.
Prepared for:
The commercial drone market in US-based $50M+ businesses
Kelsey Goings and Paul Abel, [email protected] www.blue-research.com
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.8
Research Methodology
A representative mix of US industries.
● To qualify, entities need to have generated at least $50 million in revenue in 2017.
● 1,736 respondents that passed the screening questions were asked whether or not their company currently or plans to use drones.
● 100 validated respondents completed the survey in its entirety.
Market Sizing, Adoption
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.10
S4A. Please specify your company’s use of each of the following. Drones defined as: unmanned aircraft flown either by a remote pilot or autonomously through a software-controlled flight plan. Random survey across industries completed by 1,736 respondents. 95% confidence interval margin of error is +/- 2.4%.
Drone adoption among companies with $50M+ revenue
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.11
61% report ‘no plans’ to use drones, 20% report they are ‘unsure’.
S4A. Please specify your company’s use of each of the following. Drones defined as: unmanned aircraft flown either by a remote pilot or autonomously through a software-controlled flight plan.
S4B. Will your company begin using drones in 2018?
Random survey across industries completed by 1,736 respondents. 95% confidence interval margin of error is +/- 2.4%.
Adoption is poised to nearly double in this market segment
2%Begin using by end of 2018
7%Plans to use in the future
10% Currently use
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.12
S7. How many years has your company been using drones?
Number of years using drones
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.13
S4A. Please specify your company’s use of each of the following. Drones defined as: unmanned aircraft flown either by a remote pilot or autonomously through a software-controlled flight plan. Random survey across industries completed by 1,736 respondents. Sample size varies by industry; each has a minimum of 50 respondents.
Drone adoption by industry
Construction and engineering
Government
Transportation and warehousing
Insurance
Education
Technology
Manufacturing
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.14
Q18. Which of the following best describes your company’s overall sentiment when the idea of using drones at your company was FIRST introduced?
Drone ‘adopters’ rarely say company ‘buy-in’ is a challenge
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.15
Q2A. Which of the following activities, if any, does your company outsource to external companies?
Outsourcing drone programs
Flights
20%
Data processing
16%
Data analysis
23%
63% report their company does not outsource any of these activities.
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.16
S8. How many drones does your company own?
Q1. How many full-time, part-time and contract employees are involved in one way or another with the use or management of the drones at your company?
Scope of drone programs
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.17
Q3A. How many drone flights did your company make in 2017?
Number of drone flights per month in 2017
Investment in drones; ROI analysis
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.19
Q7A. In general, do you believe the benefit you’ve obtained from using drones exceeds the cost your company made to invest in them?
Q7B. How many months did it take your company to see a positive return on its investment in drones?
A wide majority realize a positive ROI on drone investments
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.20
Q8. Please rate the extent to which you agree with the following statement.
Importance of drones to businesses that use them
Drone use is integral to our company’s operation; if we did not use drones our bottom line would suffer.
46%
Agree (5-7)
15%
Neither agree nor disagree (4)
38%
Disagree (1-3)
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.21
Q6. Below is a list of statements someone might make about the value drones bring to their company. Please rate the extent to which you agree with each of these statements. Scale of 1-7 is used: those shown ‘agree’ with the statement by rating 5-7.
How drones add value to businesses that use them
Increase worker safety
Gain a competitive advantage
Save money
Create new revenue streams
Capture more information
Be more efficient
Save time
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.22
Q6. Below is a list of statements someone might make about the value drones bring to their company. Please rate the extent to which you agree with each of these statements. Scale of 1-7 is used: those shown ‘agree’ with the statement by rating 5-7.
How drones add value to businesses that use them
Capture more information
Be more efficient
Save time
Increase worker safety
Gain a competitive advantage
Save money
Create new revenue streams
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.23
Q6. Below is a list of statements someone might make about the value drones bring to their company. Please rate the extent to which you agree with each of these statements. Scale of 1-7 is used: those shown ‘agree’ with the statement by rating 5-7.
How drones add value to businesses that use them
Capture more information
Be more efficient
Save time
Increase worker safety
Gain a competitive advantage
Save money
Create new revenue streams
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.24
Q6. Below is a list of statements someone might make about the value drones bring to their company. Please rate the extent to which you agree with each of these statements. Scale of 1-7 is used: those shown ‘agree’ with the statement by rating 5-7.
How drones add value to businesses that use them
Capture more information
Be more efficient
Save time
Increase worker safety
Gain a competitive advantage
Save money
Create new revenue streams
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.25
Q4. How much did your company spend to use drones in 2017?
Total amount spent on drones in 2017
Budget planning
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.27
*Small sample size (n=32); results are directional only.
Q19A. Does your company have an annual drone budget? Q19B. Which of the following is included in your company’s annual drone budget? Note: 6% report ‘other’.
Drone budget
% with an annual drone
budget46%
Included in drone budget*Maintaining existing drones
Purchasing new drones
Licensing/fees for existing drone software
Hiring freelance/contract pilots
Purchasing new drone software
Outsourcing drone services
Key challenges
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.29
Q17A. Which of the following, if any, are challenges your company <faces/expects to face> using drones?
Staying up to date on laws/regulations
Ensuring internal policies/procedures are followed
Obtaining access to controlled airspace quickly
Having the most current info about where drones can fly
Minimizing the amount of pre-planning required to use
Finding qualified contract pilots
Proving positive ROI
Relying on manual processes to manage operations
Logging/tracking pilot hours, flight times, maintenance
No challenges
Challenges using drones
Elapsed ~23 min
Growth projections
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.31
Q5. How much do you expect your company's spends on drones will increase over the next 12 months?
The wide majority expect their drone spending to grow
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.32
Q5. How much do you expect your company's spends on drones will increase over the next 12 months?
Expected drone spends over the next 12 months
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.33
Q3B. By the end of 2018, how many drone flights will your company make in total?
Percent expecting an increase in drone flights in 2018
© 2018 Blue Research®. Confidential. All rights reserved.34
Q3A. How many drone flights did your company make in 2017?
Q3B. By the end of 2018, how many drone flights will your company make in total?
Number of drone flights per month: 2017 vs. 2018
Regulatory Update
Fast Access to Controlled Airspace with Skyward & LAANC
Regulatory Happenings
● FAA Reauthorization - Senate to take up this summer
● UAS Countermeasures - broader authorization for counter-UAS activities within DOD and DHS
● Remote ID - FAA has a rule, but appear to be waiting for authority to include some recreational operators
● Operations over people - May see proposed rule and associated standards this summer
Update: Part 107 Renewals
● Must take recurrent test● Must be taken at Airman
Knowledge Testing Center
What’s different? ○ Removed: Weather, Loading &
Performance ○ More emphasis on... Waivers,
Aeronautical decision making, Emergency Procedures
Recurrent Test Breakdown
PANEL INTRODUCTION
Erin OlsenDirector, Marketing@erinkolsen
Paul Abel,Ph.D. Managing PartnerBlue Research
Matt FanelliDirector of Strategy@skywardio
Mariah ScottPresident@mjonscott