More and more organizations that are creating drone programs are coming to realize that their focus needs to be on the data their drones are collecting, rather than the drones themselves. This shift has been driven by a need to turn data into answers and define where and how this information can influence decisions and generate efficiencies. It’s something that can only happen with software tools that can analyze and share large amounts of information in order to positively change established workflows and create efficient new ones. Luckily, there are readily options that are as powerful as they are easy to use.

Scopito is cloud software designed to make inspection analysis faster and easier. Numerous users have been able to save time and money with the product since it allows them to always know exactly where an image was taken and also quickly tag and annotate these images with issues. Scopito creates a customized report for users with only the details that are essential for their needs, and it provides users with the ability to give their partners and colleagues access so that they can also find exactly the data that fit their needs.

The software is being used for inspections to in numerous industries, and Scopito will have a presence at the upcoming Commercial UAV Expo Americas event (booth #129) where they’re planning to highlight some critical improvements to the product, all of which will be showcased in their booth. They’ll also be discussing the existing workflows operators and organizations are utilizing, and how they can help streamline it. In preparation for these conversations, we caught up with Søren Døssing Jensen from Scopito to begin exploring some of these insights.

 

Jeremiah Karpowicz: Ultimately, do you see your platform as being able to ease existing workflow challenges, or open up entirely new approaches to performing visual inspections?

Søren Døssing Jensen: In the long run Scopito will open-up brand new approaches to visual inspections because we are in the process of including AI algorithms that can recognize assets and issues (like a broken isolator in power lines). This will significantly reduce the time spent on analysis. The human analyzers will still be part of the process, but the AI will help determine what needs to be looked further at – and what doesn’t.

Talking about the current version of Scopito, there is mostly an ease of the existing workflows. For example, the inspection report is literally written for you after a couple of clicks with the mouse. And everything is sharply organized. You don’t have an image folder called ‘Issues’ on your computer. Instead, you just tell Scopito to e.g. show you the images categorized as Severity 5 (most serious) or fault type and there they are. With thousands of inspection images, this is really going to save you time.

 

What industries are you focused on, and how have you seen your product make a difference in those spaces? 

We could mention a lot of industries, but to name a few:

  • Solar

  • Power transmission

  • Wind

  • Railroad

  • Rooftop

Wind farm inspections is a good example, and the value can be explained most easily with a quote from one of our clients and partners, Measure:

“Scopito turned out to be an excellent choice for our customers due to their streamlined platform, customizable features, and superb user interface design, e.g. easy-to-use filters that show you exactly what you’re looking for, where certain other platforms give you 60 pages per turbine.”

– KC Love, VP of Data Engineering at Measure

Have your customers been able to quantify the difference your product makes for them in terms of their bottom line? 

Last year we interviewed our customer Enhanced Visual for a blog post of ours, and they said:

“We can organize our inspection data in ½ of the time and review the images in ½ of the time too. That roughly means 5-10 hours saved per inspection, depending on the size.”

– Logan Chernicky, Enhanced Visual.

We all know that time is money, but exactly how much money our customers are saving, it is hard to tell. For some of our customers, the real benefit is about being able to give more value to their customers. For others, it’s the fact that they pay less for managing their inspection’s data in a much more professional way.

 

Can people across the world use your product? Or is it only available in certain regions? 

Scopito is used by companies in all regions of the world. An interesting case is where one of our customers – Energinet.dk were flying an expert from Canada to Denmark for assessing faults in the power grid before using Scopito. Today, by using our solution, this expert is sitting in the comfort of his office in Canada and reviewing images effortlessly. Scopito makes it easy to work across countries and regions.

 

Tell us about your pricing options. What are some of the factors that should go into choosing one option versus another? 

As shown in the screenshot from our website below, the number of images and inspector logins differentiates between the pricing categories. For companies in need of larger solutions, we offer an Enterprise solution where the terms are established between the client and Scopito.

On all four plans, you can buy a customization of the platform, if your organization has a specific need.

Some companies prioritize security especially high and will benefit from the Monthly backup service.

Custom maps are for companies that wish to add more details to Google’s map which does not always give a substantial overview of assets.

KML support makes it possible to pin the location of e.g. a power line pole/tower and its name and details to your map, as shown in the image below:

If I’m someone performing commercial inspections and I think your product could be a fit for my organization, but I’m not sure how to properly explore whether or not there’s a fit, what advice would you have for me? 

First of all, try Scopito on our website, where you can test out all the functionalities included in the Professional solution.

We also encourage everyone who has an interest in our solution to go through a short personal demo with our US-based, Support Specialist – Curtis Marshall. Curtis has a lot of experience from the pre and also the post-flight perspectives and is highly motivated to assist individuals who share the same passion for inspections as he does.

If you're part of a larger team, you can use Scopito to give your colleagues and partners acess to your inspection data. That way, everyone in your organization that is involved in the inspection process will have a say and can express their thoughts and wishes.

Hopefully, you will find that the platform benefits the organization as a whole, and you will be able (and welcome!) to talk to the Scopito team about additional needs your organization might have – needs that can possibly be dealt with by a customization of the software.

 

To learn more about Scopito, make sure you stop by booth #129 at the upcoming Commercial UAV Expo, happening October 1-3 in Las Vegas.