Covering Disruptive Technology Powering Business in The Digital Age

It all started as a small hobby in a university dorm. Frank Wang Tau’s passion for helicopters and aircrafts pushed him to build his own flying helicopter flight control system in 2005. In 2006, with the help of two classmates and his university lecturer, they established DJI.

Today, DJI is one of the largest commercial drone producers in the world. In 2017 alone, the company recorded sales of up to US$ 2.7 billion. Known as the Apple of the drone industry, SZ DJI technology employs close to 14,000 employees worldwide with products sold to over 100 countries. It currently controls 70% of the global commercial and consumer drone market in the world.

But when companies make it big, the need for greed also grows at times. While profits have been soaring over the years, DJI found itself in a huge fraud case as well within its company. Internal investigations in DJI have shown that some of their staff have inflated costs of parts for personal gain. It is estimated that up to US$150 million of damages is expected due to this fraud scam within its own employees.

In a statement, DJI said they have fired the staffs involved and have also informed the law enforcement to take the necessary action. But the question one would ask is, how long has the fraud been going on for? Will the parties that were victims of inflated costs have their funds given back to them? What about customer data? How can DJI ensure their clients and customers that their data was not sold as well? If inflated costs of parts can be turned into fraud, there is no denying that the same can be done for data as well.

DJI’s statement has confirmed that they will “now take a leading role in developing clear policies, procedures and expectations to address corner-cutting and employee theft.” They have also called on other companies to take similar steps as well. Indeed, it is going to be hard to overcome a situation like this. But perhaps just like the drone, DJI will be able to steer its way back home safely and clear all the uncertainties.

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