The Institute of Health Visiting (IHV) is a UK professional membership organisation supporting health visitors and wider public health professionals. The organisation provides education, guidance, research and advocacy to improve outcomes for children and families nationwide. With a dispersed workforce and a growing reliance on digital collaboration, IHV required a modern, secure and scalable IT platform to support its operational and strategic objectives.
IHV was operating within Google Workspace for email and file storage but had identified the need to move to a more integrated, secure and centrally managed platform. The organisation wanted to improve collaboration, strengthen security controls and gain greater visibility over user devices and data. In addition, IHV required a consistent backup strategy, enhanced identity security through multi‑factor authentication, and a modern device management solution to support remote and hybrid working. The challenge was to deliver a smooth migration with minimal disruption to users, while ensuring data integrity, user permissions and business continuity were maintained throughout the transition.
We proposed and delivered a structured migration and modernisation project, centred around Microsoft 365 and best‑practice security standards. The first phase focused on migrating all user mailboxes from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online. This included planning, mailbox migration and updating DNS records to ensure a seamless email cutover with no loss of data or service availability.
In parallel, we designed and built a new SharePoint Online environment to replace Google Shared Drives. This involved creating a structured SharePoint site, configuring main document libraries, and applying appropriate user permissions to ensure secure and intuitive access. All data from Google Shared Drives was then migrated into SharePoint, preserving folder structures and access controls.
To improve device security and management, Microsoft Intune was configured and deployed across all user devices. This enabled centralised policy enforcement, device compliance monitoring and improved support for remote users. We also implemented Datto Backupify to provide comprehensive backup coverage for Microsoft 365 user mailboxes, OneDrive and SharePoint sites, ensuring data protection and rapid recovery capability.
Finally, multi‑factor authentication (MFA) was enabled for all users using Microsoft security defaults, significantly strengthening identity security and reducing the risk of account compromise.
The project successfully transitioned IHV from Google Workspace to a secure, cloud‑first Microsoft 365 environment with minimal disruption to day‑to‑day operations. Users now benefit from improved collaboration through SharePoint, a consistent email platform and a more intuitive document management experience. Centralised device management via Intune has enhanced security, reduced risk and simplified IT administration.
The implementation of MFA and comprehensive cloud backups has significantly strengthened IHV’s security and resilience posture, providing confidence that data is protected against cyber threats and accidental loss. Overall, the organisation now operates on a modern, scalable platform that supports its mission, improves user experience and provides a strong foundation for future growth.
- Successful migration from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365
- Secure email transition with DNS updates and no data loss
- New SharePoint site with structured libraries and permissions
- Complete migration of data from Google Shared Drives to SharePoint
- Centralised device management through Microsoft Intune
- Comprehensive Microsoft 365 backup using Datto Backupify
- Multi‑factor authentication enabled for all users
- Improved security, resilience and collaboration across the organisation
