New technology helps Save the Children mobilise emergency teams faster

Save the Children works in more than 60 countries around the world to improve the lives of young people, their families and communities. The charity is made up of Save the Children International and numerous member organisations, each acting independently.

In 2017, it asked our consulting team to help them improve communication, access real-time analytics and make it easier to deploy its workforce.

Times of need

We implemented Oracle HCM Cloud – a cloud-based HR system – to help Save the Children to track current assignments and highlight where best to send resources during a humanitarian crisis. The advantages were confirmed when a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit the Indonesian island of Sulawesi in September 2018.

Prior to the project, many of the organisation’s HR functions had been operating completely offline and did not work across borders. With Oracle already live in 21 countries, it could swiftly pinpoint anyone with vital skills.

Richard Symonds, project manager at Deloitte said, “Oracle offers strong reporting capabilities, so very quickly we could run a report and identify people who would be useful to deploy to Sulawesi, for example anyone with a medical background or who spoke Indonesian.”

Real-time analytics

Introducing a state-of-the-art HR system to many of these countries has revolutionised business processes and brought them into the digital age.

“The programme has enabled us to identify what skills we have and where they are,” said Michael Koutstaal, the High Performance Organisation Executive Lead and Director of Transformation at Save the Children.

“We selected Deloitte as an implementation partner because of the trust we had in the leaders, the value for money proposed and the expertise. Have they delivered? Yes, they have.”

By the end of 2020, the charity aims to have Oracle HCM Cloud live in almost 100 countries.