Case Study

OneSmile connects a global workforce to deliver better care

Valorem Reply created a digital workplace that helps Operation Smile share knowledge, coordinate programs, and support surgical care worldwide.

THE challenge

To create a single digital workplace where Operation Smile employees could access trusted information, share program updates, and collaborate more effectively across countries, regions, and functions.

SCENARIO

Transforming global surgical care through connected operations

Operation Smile is a leading global nonprofit bridging the gap in access to essential surgeries and health care, starting with cleft surgery and comprehensive care. The global organization provides medical expertise, training, mentorship, research and care through its dedicated staff and volunteers around the world, working alongside local governments, nonprofits and health systems to create lasting impact for the communities it serves. This global mission depends on close coordination among headquarters, regional offices, local teams, medical volunteers and field staff. Yet the systems supporting that collaboration had not evolved at the same pace as the organization’s global operations. Information was spread across email, chat, and a legacy intranet outside employees’ daily workflow, making program updates difficult to find and important resources harder to access. Local teams often relied on personal contacts to locate the latest information, while knowledge from one country did not consistently reach others. These gaps slowed communication and made it harder for employees to work from the same source of truth across regions and functions.

THE SOLUTION

Connecting internal coordination to program delivery

Delivering care across more than thirty countries requires teams to coordinate people, resources, schedules, and knowledge across locations and time zones.

OneSmile centralizes program information and makes it consistently accessible, improving visibility for leadership and enabling teams to plan and execute surgical programs with greater alignment across countries.

Accessible through Microsoft Teams and mobile devices, it brings critical information into the daily flow of work, whether employees are in an office, traveling, or supporting a program on site. 

The Program and Activity Updates solution is central to this approach. For example, an education coordinator completing a training activity can submit a short update in under five minutes, while a program manager could share progress, milestones, or lessons from the field through the same standardized process. Each submission is transformed into a consistent, easy-to-read story, routed for approval, and published across the organization. This ensures that valuable updates are not lost in inboxes and become reusable institutional knowledge, helping leadership understand activity across countries and enabling teams to plan future programs, deploy resources, and build on previous experience.

Accelerator 365 by Reply enhances the experience with reusable components that improve navigation, content consistency, and access across country and department sites, making OneSmile scalable, practical, and closely aligned with Operation Smile’s mission.

HOW WE DID IT

Combining Microsoft technology, automation, and change management

To turn OneSmile into an everyday working environment, Valorem Reply combined platform implementation, workflow automation, content design, and change management. The delivery brought together:

SharePoint Online as the central platform for news, resources, forms, and organizational content

Viva Connections to make OneSmile directly accessible within Microsoft Teams and employees’ daily workflow

Accelerator 365 by Reply to improve navigation, content presentation, and consistency across 61 global sites.

Microsoft Forms and Power Automate to collect, approve, format, and publish field updates in under five minutes.

A SharePoint-based Operating Calendar to centralize upcoming events and connect information from existing data sources.

THE RESULTS

Strengthening adoption, visibility, and knowledge sharing

OneSmile significantly improved how employees access information, share updates, and connect across the organization. Key results include:

92%

adoption within the first 30 days after launch

75%

ongoing adoption, compared with 44% on the previous intranet

38,000

average monthly page views across the platform

506

average monthly unique users engaging with OneSmile

150+

posts published across 20+ countries, four regions, and 10+ departments

Operation Smile is a leading global nonprofit bridging the gap in access to essential surgeries and health care, starting with cleft surgery and comprehensive care. We provide medical expertise, training, mentorship, research and care through our dedicated staff and volunteers around the world, working alongside local governments, nonprofits and health systems, and supported by our generous donors and corporate partners. Visit operationsmile.org for more information.