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It seems like we hit a significant milestone every other week at Cyberhawk. Whether it’s a world-first here or use of new tech there – but somewhat less common, is that we can attach a number to such occasions.
This time, it’s different.
Today we celebrate Cyberhawk reaching a monumental 10,000 followers on LinkedIn and to commemorate this special occasion, we caught up with our CEO, Chris Fleming, to get his take on this tremendous milestone and what it means for the company.
Cyberhawk has recently been recognised for its activity on social media with 10,000 followers. Why do you think social media is important for the company?
I think it's important for the company because ultimately humans are social beings.
If you can relate to them on a social level, and by that I mean at a human level; “Do I like these people?”, “Do I think they're honest?”, “Do I think they'll do a good job?”, “Are they trustworthy?” and that's why I think having a social presence is important because it'll help the company grow and achieve its ambitions just by being who we are and that only works if you are a genuine, hardworking, entrepreneurial, honest company.
We're not doing anything different, in terms of approaching it, we're just telling our story and telling it more frequently and trying to tell the story through the eyes and ears of a human voice rather through technology or a sales perspective.
That's the way humans are wired, so you've got to look at things through a human lens, even when it concerns technology.
We seem to have raced towards the 10,000 followers mark in the last couple years - do you think there's a reason for that?
Yeah, there is. We've increased our social presence online.
I've
always been a big advocate of Linkedin's specifically, in terms of
engaging with it, not just as a bragging tool, but as a way to connect
with people and tell stories. I think that by being more genuine in our
interactions and allowing people the ability to engage as individuals
within the company it’s increased our followers.
It’s not just the marketing team, not just the CEO, but people like Euan when he's out on a wind job or Martin when
he's offshore, allowing those guys and encouraging them to post and
tell their own story. I think that encourages people to then go to the
company as well and say, “oh, that's an interesting company. I'll follow
them.” Just to see where it leads.
10,000 is a hugely significant milestone. Can you tell us about any milestones at Cyberhawk you're particularly proud of?
Oh, there’s a few.
If you look at Cyberhawk's history, the fact that we've been doing this longer than anybody else is a milestone and a significant achievement, one of which I'm proud.
The fact that we've worked in over 35 countries is remarkable.
I don't know how many world firsts we’ve done with drones, we've stopped counting. But it's certainly more than anybody else.
There
are lots of milestones that have been exciting, but you don't
necessarily set out to achieve them. They just kind of happen.
10,000 followers and no signs of slowing down. What about Cyberhawk’s future? What are you excited about?
Well,
in general terms, what I get excited about, is genuinely it's just an
exciting company because of the variety of work that we do, the amazing
places that we get to visit to do our work in and the stories that that
results in.
It might sound like a cliché for a CEO to talk about
revenue and growth and all those sorts of things, and whilst they are
exciting, it only comes about by doing things well, again and again.
We've doubled our turnover in two years, so that's kind of all good but
we have a lot yet to do and we are not relaxing or taking our eye off
the ball.
What really makes me excited is hearing the stories
about our teams going out and doing amazing jobs in challenging
conditions and environments and doings something that's quite tough to
do well; whether that's in hills of California or people flying in the
deserts of Oman or creating cool software that makes peoples life
easier. It's hearing people telling their stories. It's the variety of
jobs that make me go; “It's bloody amazing that we're involved in so
many weird and wonderful things and all the time we’re genuinely making
the world a safer place because we're taking people out of harmful
environments or reducing their exposure to it.
I used to do
something called rope access which involved inspection of assets at
heights or in enclosed spaces. I used to put on a harness most days of
the week to do this and wear breathing apparatus to go into these
environments. It was exciting, but it was dangerous.
I've lost two friends who died doing that job and drone technology is another way of doing it, that isn't as dangerous.
Some
people say it may not be quite as good because you're not touching the
asset with your hands, but I remember plenty of jobs where humans have
not completed thorough inspections, either in confined spaces or working
at height.
With a drone you either have the data or you don’t.
There is no getting away from that. Show me, don’t tell me is a
favourite saying of mine.
Keeping people’s feet on the ground,
keeping them safe and using the latest technology that's able to answer
some of these problems and deliver it via our software platform, called
iHawk. That's genuinely exciting to be part of.
Have you got a message to give to our 10,000 followers?
Technology is amazing and it moves incredibly fast, but ultimately, people sit behind technology. Doesn't matter what it is, whether it's a rocket going into orbit taking people for trips around the planet - it's always people that are behind the technology and people who take that technology and put it into practise, not just talk about it, not just meddle in universities, but actually take it out and say; “Let's use it” and “Let's try it” - and that's what we try and do: Real jobs for real customers that change the way we do things and LinkedIn helps us get our work out there for more people to see. I want to keep doing more of that.