Virgin Media gives employees a one-stop HR resource with Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM
The telecom provider cuts multiple legacy applications, achieves cost savings, and gives staff a better experience using Oracle Cloud HCM.
“As the result of the merger between Virgin Media and O2, people had to work through different HR platforms—two completely disjointed experiences. We were convinced that creating a new HR foundation would help us continuously improve processes for the benefit of our employees and especially their managers.”
Virgin Media O2, a leading telecommunications provider in the UK, was created from the merger of two major telecom companies. For Virgin Media O2 customers, creating one company meant they would have fast and widely available broadband combined with a large, reliable mobile provider. For company employees, however, the merger meant navigating two completely different human resources systems, which complicated routine tasks such as training and development and time and absence tracking. By moving HR operations to Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management (HCM), Virgin Media O2 was able to decommission several legacy core HR, absence tracking, and learning applications, achieving major cost savings.
Why Virgin Media O2 chose Oracle
Virgin Media O2 knew having two different HR and IT architectures was hindering productivity. “It’s not something we can measure easily, but we could see it on a daily basis. We knew if we could automate and simplify these processes, we would have a very positive impact on productivity,” says Kris Legroe, Director of People Technology at Virgin Media O2. Working with Accenture, the company chose Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM because of its capabilities to provide one reliable platform for HR processes, giving every employee the same experience. Managers and employees could use Oracle Cloud HCM as a single location for accessing absence management, time and labor tools, training and development opportunities, and more. In addition, Oracle’s innovation roadmap and its strategy to keep investing in the product “really made an impact and was probably the most important reason for us to choose Oracle,” Legroe says.
Results
By Using Oracle Cloud HCM to decommission legacy applications, Virgin Media O2 was able to focus less on application support and updates, and more on data quality, continuous improvement, employee development, and performance management. Fewer applications and less time spent maintaining on-premises software led to significant cost savings for the company. And Virgin Media O2 accomplished its goal of eliminating a disjointed experience for employees. A single data source for HR data made reporting and analysis on personnel issues easier, too.
“Very easy things like headcount reporting, for example, were very difficult before because we had to get the data from a lot of different applications,” Legroe says. “Having that visibility is just one example of many improvements.”
Looking ahead, Virgin Media O2 wants to apply AI and other technology innovation to its workforce development and management. Within HR, the team is exploring Oracle Cloud HCM AI capabilities for performance and talent management, so employees can develop skills that the company and the employees consider most important.
Partners
Virgin Media O2 turned to Accenture for support in implementing Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM. Accenture assisted with project management, configuration, and development. Currently, Accenture is helping Virgin Media O2 deliver the full payroll module on Oracle Cloud HCM. “Accenture showed us the different opportunities, the different modules, and different products within the platform and worked with us to really find the best solution for our employees," says Legroe.
About the customer
Virgin Media O2 provides broadband, TV, mobile, and home phone services to customers. The UK-based company is the result of the merger between Virgin Media and O2. It is the largest mobile network operator in the UK.