Despite social distancing precautions to “flatten the curve” during the COVID-19 pandemic, nature provides no respite from natural disasters and severe weather events. Site and property inspections across the mining, aggregates and insurance industries must continue unabated by the restrictions placed upon us by this new viral threat, especially as we move towards hail season, when property damage typically reaches its yearly apex.
Even before we found ourselves in our current situation, touchless drone-based surveying and inspections were steadily increasing as mining, aggregates and insurance companies quickly realized they could improve accuracy and customer transparency by utilizing drone-based analytics.
In the wake of recent restrictions from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention—as well as federal, state and local officials—many of these companies are implementing a fully-touchless surveying and inspection model that enables operators and inspectors to continue to perform necessary functions and comply with a disparate patchwork of new guidelines.
Drone-based surveying inspections enable the operator or inspector to arrive at the location and dispatch the drone without any interaction with other workers, occupants or property owners. All communication between the parties can take place before the drone flight via phone, text or email as they agree on a time and date and electronically sign any necessary documents.
Once on-site, the operator or inspector can alert colleagues, occupants or property owners via text message that they’ve arrived to complete the necessary inspection. The drone is then deployed, and a text is sent to alert the on-site parties that the work has been completed. The socially-distant property survey or inspection is complete, and each individual has remained faithful to public health guidelines.
From there, the data and images gathered by the drone are sent to a cloud-based drone analytics platform. The software uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to analyze the data and still photos to create highly-accurate 3-D models and site-wide views. The resulting information is emailed to the relevant parties and any survey or claims-related decisions can then be made.
Follow-up communications can then be conducted through online meetings or phone calls, and all subsequent documents can be delivered electronically. From scheduling the survey or inspection to the delivery of documents, no-one will have physically met or broken the six-foot distancing rules.
We all want to see shuttered businesses reopened and a return to life as we knew it before COVID-19. But for the time being, touchless drone-based surveying and inspections provide a way to continue necessary work while ensuring everyone remains safe, protected and secure. Drones not only decrease the likelihood of viral transmission but alleviate potential liability concerns related to infections resulting from contact between employees and clients.
We must all remain personally and professionally responsible for helping to limit the transmission of the novel coronavirus. We must also continue to provide essential services in times of crisis. Implementing touchless drone-based surveying and inspections helps keep us keep safe, but also provides a significant competitive differentiator in the future. Given current economic conditions and forecasts, businesses that survive will be the ones who demonstrate a willingness to embrace change and the flexibility required to deliver on customer expectations and promises even in the most trying of times.
To learn more, join us for our touchless drone surveying and inspection webinar in which we’ll show you how Kespry customers are benefiting from these techniques, and how to deploy a touchless, drone-based business model yourself. Sign up here.