National Association of Head Teachers – Managing a Move to the Cloud
The Company
The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) represents school leaders within primary and secondary education as well as maintained nurseries. With 12 regions throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the union represents the interests of more than 49,000 school professionals in membership.
The Challenge
Following the pandemic, NAHT was able to expedite its long-term plan to go fully cloud-based and complete the move from their bricks and mortar head office to the cloud in 2023.
With all staff now working remotely, when existing technology partner Espria was tasked with replacing 111 end-of-life laptops with new devices, the spread of remote workers created an additional layer of complexity that required careful project management. Leased laptops were returned to their lessor, and all new devices were purchased to make cost savings and built with the latest operating system. However, the singular most significant challenge of this project was deploying a third-party application with compatibility issues with the new devices and Windows 11. These infrequent issues had not been encountered before but needed effective management, both with the app developer and Microsoft to minimise the impact on end-users and facilitate resolution.
The Solution
The Espria Project Manager approached the issue with great care, ensuring that end-users were aware of the implications and how it might impact their workflow. Working closely with the stakeholder and the Espria Technical Services Team (who worked closely with the third-party supplier), the PM kept the client and the Espria internal teams informed. She effectively managed escalations, ensuring the correct people were involved internally to support and realise the solution.
She established a clear and frequent communication channel to ensure all parties were kept up to date and maintained a clear track of all issues and decisions while ensuring all parties knew who owned which action.
The Result
Despite a delay in deploying the new devices, once they were commissioned and in use, all applications functioned as required. Working with a number of third-party vendors to resolve the issue required patience, diligence and a desire to problem-solve.
“Molly has been great as the project manager; quick to remediate any issues and ensuring that I was fully informed of progress throughout.” – Andy Bone, NAHT IT Director.
Reveal areas that need proactive, defensive or collaborative resource
One of our experts will review your current data risk, examine current governance and security controls.
We’re experts in building sustainable IT infrastructure that can scale to your businesses needs.
You may be interested in
Phishing just got personal
AI-powered phishing attacks are becoming harder to detect, with increasingly sophisticated emails bypassing traditional security controls. As a result, organisations are placing greater focus on Human Risk Management, recognising employee behaviour as a measurable cybersecurity risk. SecureLearn, powered by KnowBe4 and fully managed by Espria, helps businesses reduce human risk through continuous security awareness training, phishing simulations, targeted coaching, and board-ready reporting that demonstrates improvement over time.
The Hidden Environmental Cost of Office Printing
Most offices know that reducing paper is good for the environment, but few have visibility over what their printing actually costs in resources: energy, paper, and consumables. A managed print service brings sustainable office printing into focus by measuring what is actually happening, rather than estimating it. Every printer left on standby overnight, every unnecessary colour print, and every cartridge thrown away with usable toner left inside adds up. For a business printing several thousand pages a month, the difference between an efficient and inefficient setup can be significant, both in cost and in environmental…
Is Your Office Printer a Way In for Cybercriminals?
Most small businesses think of cyber security as a laptop problem, a server problem, or an email problem. The office printer rarely gets a mention, yet it is connected to your network, holds a hard drive, and processes some of the most sensitive documents in the business, from invoices to HR letters and client contracts. However, it is important to realise that office printer vulnerabilities can be exploited by cybercriminals, potentially leading to cyber attacks. A modern multifunction printer is a computer. It has an operating system, a network connection, often Wi-Fi, and increasingly a…
The Cyber Resilience Act: what it means for your business
By Stephen Cook From 11th September 2026, a new EU regulation starts changing how connected products and software are built, sold and supported – and UK businesses trading into Europe are firmly in scope [1] [2]. Here is what the Cyber Resilience Act actually requires, why it matters beyond the compliance paperwork, and how Espria helps clients meet it. What is the Cyber Resilience Act? The Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) is an EU regulation – Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 – that sets mandatory cybersecurity requirements for “products with digital elements.” In practice, this covers hardware and software that can connect to a device or network: IoT devices,…
The Hidden Costs of Printing: How Managed Print Services Reduce Business Waste
Introduction For many organisations, printing is viewed as a routine operational expense. Printers are purchased, toner is replaced when needed, and documents continue to flow through the business without much scrutiny. However, the true cost of printing extends far beyond paper and ink. Unmanaged print environments often create hidden expenses through inefficient device usage, excessive energy consumption, IT support demands, security risks, and employee downtime. These costs can accumulate significantly over time, impacting productivity and profitability. This is particularly relevant as businesses seek to optimise operations, reduce waste, and improve sustainability while controlling expenditure. Whether…
Can Your Business Actually Recover? The Operational Resilience Question Most SMEs Cannot Answer
Operational resilience is not a technology problem. It is a business problem. And until boards and leadership teams own it, no amount of IT investment will be enough. The Gap Between Confidence and Reality Most organisations believe they are more resilient than they are. The backups are running. The antivirus is licensed. The IT team knows what they are doing. That confidence, in our experience, rarely survives first contact with an actual incident. The question is not whether your systems are protected. The question is whether your business can keep delivering its most important services…