SOS International has published its annual results for 2019

As for the past years, the assistance industry was – also in 2019 - characterised by a strong competition as well as increased customer demands in terms of price, user experience, digital services and compliance. Despite these circumstances, SOS International has grown its overall Nordic market share within the market for outsourcing of assistance service, and add to this, a concurrent high level of customer and end-user satisfaction.

SOS International is retaining its customers and at the same time regaining former customers. This is a clear testimonial of SOS International’s value proposition – to secure the value chain on behalf of our customers as a trusted partner and to provide the optimal end-user experiences while taking the total costs into account.

We secure this through a sustainable approach to high quality services, digital integrations and solutions - and with a clear focus on information security, data protection and compliance. This comprises some of the most important parameters for the success of our business.

This year’s result reflects the current very competitive environment as well as major investments.

Read the full report here

In 2019, SOS International started to harvest the results of some of its long-term investments made as part of the current strategy “Connected 2020”. These major investments encompass, among others, an updated IT infrastructure and the establishment of a Nordic Healthcare business.

The Healthcare business is now experiencing comprehensive growth and has obtained close to 50 per cent market share of psychology services within the insurance segment in Norway. Furthermore, a comprehensive set-up to deliver physiological treatments has been established in Sweden. This has led to an expansion of the counselling centre in Gothenburg.

The strengthening of SOS International’s Nordic market position as an attractive outsourcing partner is also a result of our ability to respond to the demands of the market. As an example SOS International delivers other types of services than the traditional assistance services. This includes digital integrations and data.

Throughout the year, several major investments have been made. Firstly, the development of a new case management system for the Travelcare business has been initiated. The purpose of this, is to establish a strong operational platform for the future business. The case management system constitutes a significant long-term investment that is expected to have a major business impact.

Secondly, we have spent a lot of effort rethinking the future workplace. The purpose of this is to be able to continue attracting the most talented employees and, not least, to create the most optimal workplace for their potential to unfold. As part of this, new premises in Aarhus and Oslo were inaugurated during 2019. The office layout and interior decoration in these offices reflect an ambitious investment in sustainable office solutions and optimal working conditions for our employees.

The overall results of this year’s employee engagement survey also revealed an increase of the employee satisfaction. The strategic goal of a high employee satisfaction defined for 2020 was thus achieved already in 2019. This is not least due to a strong focus on leadership and competence development among our staff.

It is our clear ambition to maintain a position as Nordic market leader within travel and roadside assistance services, and to become Nordic market leader within all three business areas (Travelcare, Mobility and Healthcare) in the future - in terms of volume, but not least in terms of quality. We will obtain that by keeping a clear focus on providing digital as well as non-digital solutions that represent high quality, optimal end-user journey and sustainability.
Thus, investments will be made in solutions that ensure and improve the company’s competitiveness and efficiency as well as the value offered to our customers.

Moreover, we continue to focus on responding to customer demands through development of solutions in close cooperation with our customers. The implementation of new product teams working according to agile development methods and using modern technologies will speed up our development process. The first teams were established end of 2019.

In 2020, we also expect to increase our attention on sustainability. We will not only ensure a strong focus on initiatives within our own organisation concerning for example energy consumption, waste management and the like, but we will also increase our focus on delivering sustainable services and support a sustainable development of the market. Read more in our separate sustainability report.

I hope you enjoy the report.

Niels Krag Printz