The Future of Drones in Business

Drones come by many names: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Miniature Pilotless Aircraft, and Flying Mini Robots. Regardless of their many monikers, drones are growing rapidly in popularity and usage. According to BusinessWire, ​​the global commercial market for drones is estimated to reach $18.2 Billion by 2027.

Some of the world’s largest technology organizations like Google and Amazon – as well as a growing contingent of start-ups – use drones for a wide variety of applications. So, while it is obviously a growing market, the truth is that the future of how drones will be used moving forward is only starting to come into focus.

Before we jump to future applications of this growing flying fun, let’s take a look at some ways drones are already being used today:

  • Assisting search and rescue
  • Capturing live events
  • Aiding firefighters
  • Surveying construction sites
  • Gathering environmental information

Here are 3 ways your business could potentially use drones in the future.

  • Delivery. We’ve already heard the rumors about drone delivery with Amazon, but any IT product company should have a future strategy around unmanned delivery.
  • Protection. It’s one thing to keep the temperatures of your server farm in check, it’s another to save costs on security detail by hovering a drone outside your front entrance.
  • Research. Drones can scope out areas – populated or not – for anything from military ops to methane leaks. This takes information collection to a whole new level.

Along with these opportunities come risks, however. Topics like privacy and safety are always front and center challenges to consider. If you’re taking video from your drone, are human faces being captured as part of that? Is the operator of your drone experienced and licensed to do so? These are just a few of the questions you’ll need to answer as you embark into this new world.

Drones will no doubt become a growing part of how we all do business and experience the world. But between regulation changes, an ever-increasing awareness of the pitfalls, and consistently lower price points for the equipment, where this is all going to end up is anything but predictable.