Finding a Waythrough the merger

Results at a glance

• 1,590 users migrated, each with a mailbox and OneDrive
• 439 shared and resource mailboxes moved across
• 319 SharePoint sites and Teams transferred, totalling around 3.5TB
• 1,112 Windows computers automatically migrated between environments
• 11 integrated applications of varying complexity handled
• 3,758 mailboxes and 499 groups rebranded to the new Waythrough identity

The challenge

In December 2023, Humankind and Richmond Fellowship announced they were merging to form Waythrough, a new national charity supporting people facing mental health challenges, addiction, and related disadvantages.

This wasn't a takeover. It was two organisations choosing to become something better, together.

The IT requirements were clear:

• Rebrand the merged organisation to the new Waythrough identity by October, 1^st 2024
• Give everyone across the organisation the ability to collaborate properly
• Consolidate duplicate systems and make the most of the economies of scale

Following the legal merger in June 2024, the clock was ticking.

What we did

Waterstons was brought in to plan, lead, and help deliver the technical side of the merger and rebrand, working alongside the IT teams from both organisations.

We started with a thorough design and planning phase using TOGAF principles to map out a multi-workstream implementation plan. Getting this right upfront made everything that followed smoother. Dependencies were understood early, and the execution reflected that.

The core of the work was consolidating two Microsoft 365 tenants into one, migrating users and services from Richmond Fellowship into the Humankind tenant. We pre-staged and prepared as much as possible before a cutover migration over a maintenance weekend.

We made an early call to separate the Microsoft 365 migration from the rebranding. Doing both at once would have created unnecessary complexity and a worse experience for end users. Keeping them distinct meant support was manageable, and change was absorbed in stages.

Once everyone was in a unified environment, the rebrand became straightforward.

What made it tricky

We've done a lot of Microsoft 365 migrations. This one had some specific challenges worth calling out.

• High user account turnover. With over 1,500 users across a charity environment, including volunteers, accounts changed frequently. Keeping target accounts accurate throughout the preparation phase required more active management than a typical migration.
• A distributed workforce. Re-imaging devices and providing in-person support works fine for smaller or office-based organisations. At this scale, spread across the country, it simply wasn't viable.
• Integrated applications. The Microsoft 365 environment was connected to a number of business-critical systems, including the primary case management system, a data lakehouse fronted by Power BI, the HR system, internal service desks, and email encryption software. Each needed its own approach.

What made it work

• The team. A genuinely collaborative project team across Waterstons, Richmond Fellowship, and Humankind IT made the difference. Open communication, shared ownership, and mutual respect throughout.
• Vendor coordination. Close planning with vendors and system owners meant the implementation plan accounted for every dependency. Services integrated with Microsoft 365 transitioned without drama.
• PowerSyncPro DirSync. We used this tool to synchronise 1,590 user accounts from source to target, handling attribute transformation and bi-directional password synchronisation. Paired with a bespoke validation process, it significantly reduced the burden on the project and support teams. Users kept their passwords. Services in the source environment stayed accessible. The preparation phase was far more manageable as a result.
• PowerSyncPro Migration Agent. This automatically transitioned 1,112 Windows computers between environments. No army of engineers re-imaging devices across the country. No lengthy downtime. The vast majority of users were back at work within an hour of coming online.

In their words

"Whilst the scale of this project was significant, it was incredibly reassuring to see how our excellent internal team and Waterstons worked together. From the onset, it was clear we'd engaged a customer and solutions-focused partner, who matched our commitment in delivery excellence." 

Dave Marsh, Executive Director for IT & Digital

"We've had lots of positive feedback from across the business. In particular, our programme manager who sees M&A activities day in day out said 'this was the smoothest merger I've ever seen.'

"People were quickly back to working following this major cutover. The PowerSyncPro solution was a gem, a real win for the project.

"The Waterstons project team were really responsive to queries. We never needed to push for updates, which bred confidence, and we always felt we were in good hands." 

James Staff, Head of IT Operations

"Overall the project was a fantastic success." 

Adrian Robinson, Assistant Director, IT Systems and Information

Thinking about a migration?

If you're facing a merger, rebrand, or system consolidation, we've done this before and we know where the hard bits are.

Get in touch at info@waterstons.com