The Azure platform the portal sits on would be able to cope with a significant number of spontaneous connections and Red Cross would only pay for what processing resources are required to meet the demand, Ranby says.

He has yet to look into the compliance issue around offshoring data, but he says moving to a cloud-based solution would be in line with international practice in the Red Cross; whose global chief information officer Edward Happ, based in Geneva, is championing cloud technology for the humanitarian organisation worldwide. Although there is no direct command structure, various Red Cross societies throughout the world contribute their IT tools and expertise to a shared global database.