How Flying Aircraft Taught Me the Value of Data

If your work or business relies on its data you should READ THIS.

I fly aircraft. I became a pilot 45 years ago. Along with data analytics for assets, flying planes is my passion.

Flying is about a lot of things. Much of it’s about procedures. There are rules for taxiing, taking off, landing and communicating. All good pilots follow them.

Now, I fly planes because it’s fun. It’s the ultimate freedom. Some pilots say flying is a bit like driving a sports car in the sky.

I disagree.

You see, when you’re up at 10,000 feet, it’s not the same as driving a car. No road signs. No lane markings. And no visible guides close by to tell you where you are – or what’s about to happen.

But you do have these things: Instruments.

Aircraft cockpits are festooned with instruments. Polka-dotted panels of little round gauges. They tell you lots of things.

To the untrained eye a cockpit looks intimidating and confusing. It’s like a hundred eyes are staring at you. And they whisper things like: “The pressure’s on. Make a decision. Don’t make a mistake.”

But not to a trained pilot.

Accurate calibrated instruments convey many details. The most important are how high you are, how fast you’re going, and which direction you’re travelling. All pretty important stuff.

Each instrument says one thing. Together, they tell you a STORY.

And this story dictates what you should be thinking about, what you should be doing, and what you should be planning to do next.

Do this, and you’ll get the plane off the ground, into the air, where you want to go, and back on the ground again – with safety.

It’s the same with your business and its mobile assets.

All day, every day, your operations are capturing data. It’s being fed to you. You’re recording a lot of it.

Now, you’re probably making lots of decisions with it. Stuff that affects your finances and your mobile asset planning. Perhaps even whether or not you can even stay in business.

Just like when you’re in the cockpit at 10,000 feet, you need to make correct use of these data.

Aircraft are expensive, just like mobile assets and businesses. My life and livelihood are paramount – just like yours. So those instruments in front of any pilot – or business owner – are CRITICAL.

So for the next few weeks, I’m going to share with you a series of posts about DATA. They’re thought-starters about what you should be considering when it comes to data in your business – and with your mobile assets.

I’ll cover topics such as:

  • Finance (I’ll show you some invisible insects that eat company cashflows)
  • Risk (how much is too much to spend on risk management? And are you trying to tick EVERY compliance box on planet Earth?)
  • Maintenance (the one simple question that can reduce your maintenance bills – with immediate effect)
  • And more.

Don’t mistake data for words and numbers. Data tells a STORY.

And what you DO from this story is HOW you improve your mobile asset management – and get the ROI (Return on Investment) you need. I’ll show you.

Read on from next week.

Stay safe.

Grant Andrews
Managing Director
Uniqco

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