Colin Snow

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Making the Business Case for Your Drone Program

By Colin Snow | September 10, 2019

I am happy to announce the release of Making a Successful Business Case for Drone Technology – a blueprint for enterprises to develop a successful business case for a drone-based technology program. Produced in partnership with PrecisionHawk, this reference guide offers enterprise leaders a clear, step-by-step process to analyze, evaluate, and communicate key objectives of … Read more

Amazon’s Drone Delivery Plans: What’s Old, What’s New And When?

By Colin Snow | June 26, 2019

Amazon’s Prime Air delivery drone has some great new technology but the service faces strong and persistent regulatory hurdles. Amazon’s drone delivery service is in the news again, this time with a new drone named the “MK27.” As the latest iteration of Amazon’s Prime Air delivery drone, it’s apparently safer, more efficient, and more stable … Read more

FAA May Be Off Target With Forecast For Threefold Growth In Commercial Drones

By Colin Snow | May 20, 2019

There’s some good information in the FAA’s new five-year Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) forecast, but there are reasons to doubt the accuracy of the agency’s projections in two areas that have captured attention: the claims that there will be roughly threefold growth in the numbers of commercial drones and UAS-certified pilots. Here’s the good, the … Read more

Three Essentials for Building Public Safety and First Responder Drone Programs

By Colin Snow | May 9, 2019

Increasing use of drones surfaces three best practices for state and local police, sheriffs, fire departments, and teams in EMS, search and rescue, tactical response, and disaster response.   I just released two new drone industry guides titled Three Essentials For Building Your Law Enforcement Drone Program and Three Essentials For Building Your Fire and … Read more

Drones Are Doing More In U.S. Than You May Know, As These 3 Companies Show

By Colin Snow | March 25, 2019

Five years ago, the pundits predicted that by now we would be seeing tens of thousands of drones buzzing over our heads delivering everything from pizzas and burritos to the latest “must-have” item from Amazon. So what happened? Where are they? In a nutshell, they are here, but the general public doesn’t see them—at least … Read more

What Every CIO Needs To Know About Commercial Drone Data

By Colin Snow | February 12, 2019

This post first appeared on Forbes.com as Drones Pose A Unique Big Data Challenge For Business Users The public might consider them nuisances, but in the commercial market, drones are valuable data collection devices. Their primary task is to capture, store, and transmit data. So as IT departments consider integrating more drone data into existing enterprise … Read more

Evaluating the Economics of BVLOS Drone Operations

By Colin Snow | January 29, 2019

We just announced the release of our latest research on commercial drone operations. The Economics of Using Drones for BVLOS Inspections is a white paper sponsored by PrecisionHawk, the leading provider of drone technology for the enterprise, which provides a foundation for businesses to evaluate when it’s best to use traditional ground and manned aviation, … Read more

Seven Trends That Will Shape the Commercial Drone Industry in 2019

By Colin Snow | January 12, 2019

[This post first appeared in Forbes] In many ways, 2019 will be another big year for the commercial drone industry. Last year saw a wider rollout of the FAA’s LAANC program (the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability that provides access to controlled airspace near airports), the launch of the UAS Integration Pilot Program from … Read more

Three Forces That Shaped the Drone Industry in 2018

By Colin Snow | December 19, 2018

This was a big year for the commercial drone industry as a whole. It saw a significant increase in the business adoption, the expansion of the FAA’s LAANC program (the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability that provides access to controlled airspace near airports), the launch of the UAS Integration Pilot Program from the FAA … Read more

Measuring Success in the Drone Market

By Colin Snow | October 17, 2018

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” – Peter Drucker The $118M Airware failure is a cautionary tale for all potential commercial drone investors—as well as all existing commercial drone market participants. To avoid such failure—whether you are drone aircraft manufacturer, software vendor, service provider, business enterprise, investor, or public agency—you need the … Read more