launched a travel management software, where you get all the data about our clients' employees on business trips; they can also be geo-located if they wish. Universities such as Harvard, Oxford, and the major French schools, which have become major players in mobility, have thousands of students abroad at any given time, and thousands more at home, and all these young people go through the digital, instantaneous process. We have to be more and more reactive. With covid, health has become a factor of business continuity: aviation, which stopped flying during the epidemic, is a good example. Health has become a factor of continuity, of sur- vival, not only for the individual, but also for the compa- ny, which is new. We have a consulting division that helps companies to implement their health plan. The barrier that existed between the office and the home exploded, although everyone wanted to maintain it, but covid has changed the situation in a permanent way: there will be no turning back, at least in the short term. Today the company is responsible for ensuring that the employee can work at home in conditions that do not create too much stress. Mental health has become a huge issue: since covid, there are two and a half times more mental health problems, unresolved. Diagnosis remains a diffi- cult point, either because the individual does not want to accept it, or because the company does not realise it. People who live alone or in difficult housing conditions have also been more affected than others. We are cur- rently trying to create mechanisms to make an initial dia- gnosis that is 'painless'. Our group is passionate about what it does: there is a community of a tremendous level, with 1400 doctors worldwide! Everything is changing all the time, and more and more quickly. The geopolitical situation is clearly deteriorating. International SOS, as an organisation, is also changing very fast, as is the expertise it offers to its clients. Our experts have to anticipate risk developments and propo- se solutions that will reduce those risks. Our problem is always one of choice: making the right choice and beco- ming the leader in this field. I am very attached to this: leadership and cross-founder, our speciality being to work internationally. It's quite unique because most com- panies in healthcare think domestically, whereas the sys- tems are very different from one part of the world to ano- ther. This way of working across borders is part of our identity. www.internationalsos.com
founders, one a doctor, the other a manager, the whole medical hierarchy of the group reports to a doctor, and decisions are taken between doctors: this is probably one of the factors of success of the company. Class & Relax Lifestyle Magazine: Looking back on your time at International SOS, what is your greatest personal satisfaction? Arnaud Vaissié: First of all, any business project is fragile these days; everything changes so quickly, situations are so fluid that there is no room for complacency... which is the beginning of the end for a business. It's an absolutely fascinating job that we invented: it didn't exist before and it's constantly changing; we contribute to it, of course. For example, after the events of 11 September 2001, we added the 'security' aspect to the 'medical' aspect, in order to better manage the risk of mobility. More recent- ly, we have invested in considerable logistics and integra- ted digital technology to an extremely high level, we invest 5% of our turnover in this area each year (100 mil- lion euros): this enables us to provide more and more remote visual assistance from our centres. We have also
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~C L A S S & R E L A X L I F E S T Y L E M A G A Z I N E - B U S I N E S S - 2023 ~
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