North West Ambulance Service: Adopting and Adapting to Microsoft 365

“Thank you for showing me a new way of working.” – staff feedback.

In 2023, Project 365 began at the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) – a large-scale records improvement and Microsoft 365 (M365) migration. This involved the movement of 16.5TB for over 8,000 staff in seven directorates across 119 sites.

This paper will reflect on the project’s experiences and lessons learned, considering the complexities of moving a largely mobile workforce into M365. It will explore staff experiences and the importance of change management, language, training, and user adoption to help staff not just adapt to but adopt M365. The paper will consider various schools of thought, existing knowledge, and methodologies of M365 migrations, from a Knowledge Manager who previously did not consider themselves technical. It will reflect on the importance of considering, measuring, and improving digital capability and inclusion of staff in a largely under-researched area of the NHS.