The global lifeline: Arnaud Vaissié
International SOS is a company that cares deeply about the health and wellbeing of people in crisis, wherever they are in the world.
It’s every company’s nightmare: staff trapped overseas in a major crisis or sick and injured with no health services nearby. Thankfully, an extraordinary international organisation, staffed by thousands of medical and security staff, is available day and night to come to their aid. The CEO Magazine was fortunate to be able to chat with its Co-Founder and CEO, Arnaud Vaissié.
The CEO Magazine: What inspired you to set up International SOS?
Arnaud: I co-founded the company in 1985 with my childhood friend Dr Pascal Rey-Herme in Singapore. Pascal had been working as a medical attaché at the French Embassy in Jakarta, and this led us to identify a business opportunity delivering medical and other assistance services to expatriates and employees travelling internationally. Although we started small, large companies immediately recognised the value of what we were offering: high-quality medical services plus local knowledge and understanding. Today, we assist 9,400 clients, including nearly two-thirds of Fortune Global 500 companies around the world.
What have been some of the significant developments at International SOS over the past 30 years?
We’ve helped clients in situations such as terrorist attacks, coups, tsunamis and the Ebola outbreak. Each crisis has taught us how to provide assistance and advice faster and more reliably. We have a strong focus on traveller education to help reduce exposure to diseases such as malaria and SARS, and we recently supported the development of a code of practice that advises organisations on how to address the health and safety risks posed to mobile workforces. One of our clients was in a panic trying to ensure its employees were safe after a major crisis; as a result of that situation, we developed the TravelTracker, now the world’s leading traveller tracking solution. After observing the need for oil and gas companies to venture further afield, we became the first company in the world to be certified in the delivery of TeleHealth services, and we’ve also developed a joint venture with Control Risks, which means clients have medical and travel security any time, anywhere in the world. In addition to all this, we’ve joined forces with MedAire, the leading provider of inflight medical assistance, relied on by the world’s largest airlines.
How important is technology?
It’s vital. Our TravelTracker is the leading software in its field and now tracks around 2.8 million international travellers each year. TeleHealth allows us to provide quality medical information and assessments, video conferencing, and referrals every minute of every day. We also have an eLearning Training Hub, a virtual classroom that delivers travel health and safety-training courses.
How would you describe your core values?
Our core values are passion, expertise, respect and care, but we also nurture an entrepreneurial spirit. Whatever the challenge, the spirit has always been to find a way. Everyone is encouraged to accept responsibility and solve problems. All efforts are respected — there’s no such thing as a bad idea.
Our staff come from a variety of backgrounds, but this consistent strategy, together with clear and active communication, is imperative to our success.
"Everyone in the company, not just those in the front line, sees themselves as being in the job of saving lives."– Arnaud Vaissié
How important are partners, such as Orange Business Services, to your success?
In a business where every call can be an emergency and every response a lifesaver, a robust, secure and reliable network infrastructure is the centrepiece. Orange has been our partner since 2014 and supports us in the management of all our communications infrastructure, enabling us to provide in-time support to clients around the world.
What else makes you a world-leader in your field?
Our expertise is unique: we operate out of 1,000 locations in 90 countries. Our 11,000 staff include 1,400 doctors, 5,200 medical professionals, and 200 security specialists. We take an average of 12,000 calls a day and can communicate in any language.
We deliver unrivalled emergency assistance during critical illness, accidents or civil unrest. Everyone in the company, not just those in the front line, sees themselves as being in the job of saving lives. When responding to a crisis, workloads can be heavy and the atmosphere intense, but the nature of the job is to be involved in crisis and deal with chaos. Our group is organised to deal with stressful situations, and an emergency is highly motivating. Everyone works together with a common purpose. We care — and that comes from the top and is deeply embedded.