Edinburgh private security provider seals social enterprise world first

GTS Solutions, the Edinburgh private security provider that operates as a social enterprise, has claimed a world first after partnering with a global video surveillance specialist.

Chris Thewlis says the partnership is hugely significant deal for GTS. Picture: Contributed

The firm said the deal would see it become the only social enterprise operating in the UK’s private security industry to be an official service provider to Axis Communications.

Axis, which is headquartered in Lund, Sweden, already collaborates with partners in 179 countries.

The agreement to become an Axis “channel partner” is GTS Solutions’ most significant partnership since its formation in the capital in 2012. It will see the Scots venture able to offer Axis’ products and tap into its expert support to provide technical installations and support services such as monitoring response, smart building control and analytical feedback services.

Significant

GTS chief executive Chris Thewlis said: “To become the first social enterprise in the world to partner with a company of the size and stature of Axis is hugely significant for us.

“We reinvest all of our profits back into our social aims and objectives, which are primarily to deliver public safety. On the back of this we consider ourselves as having strong ethical values and we recognised that Axis has similar values to us.”

Thewlis, who recently took up a role as policy board member at the Scottish Business Resilience Centre, added: “What’s exciting for us is that, from a government level down, there’s now a drive to encourage businesses to operate in a socially responsible way.”

Hakan Johansson, sales director, Axis, Northern Europe, added: “Our partnership with GTS Solutions is particularly strong because it’s based on shared values and a common goal, to innovate for a smarter safer world.”