Skyward, a provider of drone operations management software and consulting services, recently released the results of a Blue Research survey indicating that one in ten U.S. companies with revenue more than $50 million are utilizing drones. Of those companies, 92 percent have realized a positive return on investment (ROI) in one year or less. Additionally, the report suggests that drone use among these companies could reach about 12 percent by the end of 2018.

Blue Research sampled 1,736 individuals employed by a random mix of U.S. companies in this revenue category. Based on those responses, the report revealed that the highest use of drones is in the construction and engineering industry (at about 34 percent), followed by government organizations (at about 24 percent). Overall, about 19 percent of those surveyed indicated that their companies use or expect to use drones in the future.

President of Skyward, Mariah Scott, said, “[T]his is the first study in which both adoption and the [ROI] has been assessed with companies of this size across industries. It is fascinating to see how quickly these organizations are obtaining a positive ROI. Although still a fairly nascent market, these data suggest that market is well-poised to grow—and with good reason for doing so.” A full copy of the report can be found here.