READY, SET, LAUNCH!

Gaining buy-in from your executive team is an essential first step that can make or break any company’s drone program. While a boots on the ground professional or a business manager is interested in new use cases, increased efficiency, hiring pilots, and processing data, your executives may not care about any of those things until you can prove the drones won’t increase your company’s liability. Your compliance and legal teams may be most concerned about ensuring that your flight crews will never violate airspace regulations, damage infrastructure, or infringe on privacy. As a customer success manager at Skyward, I have helped many businesses reinforce best practices for drone adoption and management, and I share some of my best tips for success in this article.

At any complex organization, there are many different stakeholders with diverse goals any time new technology is introduced, and drones are a prime example. Your legal team, your finance team, and your executives will all have different concerns. If you can address those concerns in advance, you’ll have a smoother path to success. There’s no harm in making your bosses look good, and you’ll have a much easier time getting budget if you have a good relationship with your finance team. Jumping through so many hoops can feel time-consuming, especially if you already have projects lined up, but it’s