When a hurricane can be good for business

(This post originally appeared on The Washington Post)

Last summer’s Hurricane Irma caused billions of dollars in damage to Florida. But oftentimes something good can come from bad, and for two small businesses in the state the storm created new opportunities to demonstrate how effective drone technology can be, particularly for the insurance industry.

One of those companies is Naples Drone Solutions, which operates a fleet of unmanned aerial machines to capture, process and deliver data to its clients in the construction, telecom, real estate and insurance industries. The company’s drones, which can take photos of just about anything, do a lot of work inspecting roofs from above. In the weeks after Irma, the company made hundreds of roof inspections.

When Irma hit, the drone pilots from Fort Myers-based Soaring Sky used the skills they learned at the company to fly hundreds of missions for a big insurance company. The pilots have honed their skills at the company’s academy, which is focused on building an “elite” community of drone pilots and professionals who can maximize drone technology. The seven-person company offers training and certification to would-be pilots and according to its website has built a network of 2,500 trained pilots who collect data for insurance companies and other clients. Since its founding in 2014, the company says, it has performed more than 5,000 missions.

Insurance firms are finding that working with drones can save countless hours, provide better data more safely and handle multiple claims at a time. It’s a growing business that should continue to attract many more entrepreneurs in the coming years.

“With each natural disaster the use of drones seems to be increasing because they’ve proven themselves to facilitate a faster claims experience,” Lynne McChristian of the nonprofit Insurance Information Institute told southwest Florida’s News-Press. “In each one of these instances all across the U.S., drones were employed to speed up the claims adjusters’ job.”