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Why MIS? P arT 1
FALCON Security is a 5-year-old, privately owned company that uses aerial
drones to provide surveillance and inspection services for customers. Its customers
are large industrial companies that want to reduce their physical security labor
costs or need periodic inspection services for industrial sites. Falcon has contracts
with several large oil refineries in Texas to provide real-time video surveillance of
their sizable industrial facilities. It also does occasional safety inspections on critical
infrastructure components (e.g., flare stacks), which would be difficult and dangerous
to do in person.
Falcon Security’s CEO and cofounder is Mateo Thomas. In the early part of his career
Mateo was a major in the United States Army in charge of physical security at a large
military base in the Middle East. After retiring from the Army, Mateo went to work as
the director of security at a large Texas-based industrial manufacturer. While serving on
a security policy steering committee with business unit managers, he met the young
and ambitious Joni Campbell. He told Joni the company was paying way too much for
physical security. He thought the company could buy a few drones to do the work of
several physical security guards at a fraction of the cost. From his time in the military
he’d seen how drones could be used successfully to improve security with much less
time and effort. The problem was that he didn’t know much about actually operating
the drones. Neither did Joni.
Falcon A week later, Joni was at a friend’s wedding and saw a wedding
Security video that included amazing aerial shots of the bride and groom
on the beach, driving, and walking in the park. Curious, she
approached the photographer, Camillia (Cam) Forset, and
asked her how she produced those stunning videos. Turns
out that Cam did weddings part-time during the summer
months. Her day job, which she didn’t especially like,
was as a regional sales representative for a drone
manufacturer. She experimented with drones at a
few photo shoots and the results were spectacular.
Everyone who saw the aerial footage wanted it. She
was the only photographer in the metro area who could
produce aerial video, and her business thrived. But
Source: SkyAce/Fotolia with her and Mateo the following Saturday.
weddings were mostly seasonal, and she still needed her
day job to pay the bills. Joni knew she’d found the drone
expert she needed and asked Cam if she’d like to have lunch
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