Spotlight: Argus Corrections Solutions on a mission to provide a safer environment for corrections officers

Company name: Argus Corrections Solutions, Inc.  
Headquarters: Championsgate, Fla.
Signature Product: Echo
Website: http://www.teamargus.com/

1. Where did your company name originate from?

The two founders of Argus believed that a need existed for a company in corrections to be "all seeing" and to bring to light previously unknown intelligence, often hiding in plain sight. The name Argus was chosen from the Greek god Argus, who was described as "all seeing" and often as having "one hundred eyes."

2. What was the inspiration behind starting your company?

A need to constantly innovate and challenge the ways technology had been designed, delivered and supported. Just because something has been done one way for many years doesn't mean it's the only or best way to do it. We wanted to release products and services that no one else was attempting. To that end, some people initially thought our first-generation biometrics engine could not do what we claimed, simply because it was so radically different to what had been offered before it.

3. What is your signature product and how does it work?

Echo is our signature product. It works by analyzing recordings, isolating the data points inherent in speech and creating a unique digital voiceprint of a speaker that can be used to biometrically identify the same speaker in any and all communications where that individual spoke. In addition, Echo includes integrated speech-to-text, keyword and topic detection search capabilities to allow for a comprehensive aggregation, querying and data mining of the content of all communication, regardless of the medium used to communicate. 

Our second generation of Echo builds on the first, extracting information and intelligence from all forms of communication and delivers on our promise of "transforming data into what matters most." Empowering users to act more quickly and precisely than many ever thought possible.

4. Why do you believe your products are essential the corrections community?

The products and services we provide have a direct impact on law enforcement's ability to safely perform their duties. For example, our ability to detect even one conspiracy to introduce drugs into a jail, or one occasion where an inmate is conveying suicidal intentions, or to uncover and report an attempted escape, gives our users an unprecedented advantage in intervening and reducing the risk of injury – or worse – to everyone involved. This provides a safer environment for the staff and the inmates they are responsible for. Agencies have a tough enough time performing their job duties; our products and services allow them to be safer while serving their communities.    

5. What has been the biggest challenge your company has faced?

It was initially challenging to compete against giant companies owned and controlled by private equity firms. Their access to financing, marketing reach and political influence was difficult to overcome when we started. They would tell prospective clients we would not be around in a couple of years or our technology could not do what we said it could.

Ultimately, our first client did not want to do business with the largest competitor and instead preferred a collaborative relationship, working with people they knew well and who were solely focused on delivering the best investigative tools. That first client gave us the momentum we needed to establish a solid footing to build from and we have never looked back.

6. What makes your company unique?

While many companies try to be all things to all people, we instead do not deviate from our core products, which are widely considered best-in-class. We only develop, deliver and support products that are formed in true collaboration with the agencies we serve so we know they are or will be the best at what they do.

Additionally, we are proudly founder-led. Both cofounders are actively involved in the business and are hands-on, leading from the front. Our clients continue to work directly with the cofounders and the extended management team of seasoned veterans.

Beyond that, everyone in the company is accessible and able to provide support when needed. We've earned a reputation of taking good care of the people we serve.

7. What do your customers like best about you and your products?

Customers most enjoy that we listen; that their voice is heard and their ideas, suggestions and feedback is acted upon and is reflected in the products and services we deliver.

Often, suppliers try to tell the clients how to do things. Instead, we view our clients as the subject matter experts and it's our job to use our expertise and skills to deliver technology that helps them make their jobs and lives easier.

At the end of the day, they know far better than we do what needs to be done to effectively achieve the desired outcome. They may not have the funding, technology, in-house skill or other resources to get there, but we do. In fact, that's the essence of what we do.

8. What is the most rewarding part of serving the first responder community?

The most rewarding part of serving this community is being able to give an agency the tools to help raise the bar from what they are currently capable of doing. It is always great to hear from a system user or agency leadership after deploying one of our solutions that they were able to detect an act of suspicious behavior or criminal conspiracy that they couldn't before and step in to stop it.  

We love hearing that our solutions helped provide an agency a safer work environment for their staff or helped them be more effective while using less resources.       

9. Do you support any charitable organizations within public safety or the community? Tell us more.

We support multiple state sheriff's associations. We believe it's important to support the local community and departments that put themselves in harm's way every day to make our lives better.

10. Is there any fun fact or trivia that you'd like to share about you or your company?

We have a very talented pair of owners at this company who, between them, speak a total of five languages and hold multiple patents. Additionally, one of them continues to be ranked among the top amateur golfers in Florida. 

Another fun fact relates to our management team here at Argus. Between them, they have an average of 25 years of experience or more in the law enforcement and corrections fields. Additionally, they were all end users of Argus solutions long before becoming Argus employees.  Some also continue to serve as active law enforcement officers and maintain a deep connection to the profession and communities they serve.   

11. What's next for your company? Any upcoming new projects or initiatives?

After a decade making cutting-edge technology available and affordable to our clients, we are only scratching the surface with what our technology can do.

Leveraging artificial intelligence and combining it with the insights and expertise of our staff and user base, we will continue to make the products better, more efficient and infinitely more useful than anyone could imagine. The roadmap for our products and services over the coming years is incredibly exciting and we can't wait to show people what we have in store.