Case Studies
Transforming Education with Cloud Design Box: A Case Study with the Harris Federation
The Harris Federation is one of the UK’s most successful multi-academy trusts, serving disadvantaged communities across London. With over 40,000 learners and 5,000 staff across 54 academies, Harris is driven by a mission to close the inclusion gap and raise educational standards. As part of its digital transformation journey, Harris partnered with Cloud Design Box to maximise its investment in Microsoft 365—enhancing teaching, learning, and collaboration at scale.
About Harris Federation
An education charity led by teachers, the Harris Federation is dedicated to achieving educational excellence. Founded by Lord Harris of Peckham, the trust has grown significantly since opening its first school in 1990. All Harris academies are rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted, and the trust plays a leading role in teacher training as one of the founding members of the National Institute of Teaching. Its commitment to centralised and standardised services ensures cost efficiency and consistent support for every academy.
"This partnership has worked very well. Cloud Design Box now has a tried, tested, and successful delivery and deployment system planned in depth with a large MAT leadership team. This includes a communication strategy, planning documentation, and training programmes. In return, the Harris Federation has a partner who can deliver and support according to the agreed plans."
-Lee Mallin, Assistant Director and sponsor of the Harris 365 programme
Challenges
The scale of the Federation posed a significant challenge. With over 50 academies, rolling out new technology required careful planning, stakeholder buy-in, and a phased strategy. Harris needed to consolidate its SharePoint systems, reduce IT support requests, and improve the user experience for both staff and students. Ensuring compliance, security, and accessibility—especially for SEND students—were top priorities.
Solution
Harris commissioned a steering group to identify best practices for Microsoft 365 usage and selected Cloud Design Box as their partner. A pilot project in three academies proved successful, leading to a full-scale rollout across the trust. Branded internally as “Harris 365”, the programme involved detailed planning, data migration, stakeholder engagement, and tailored training. Academies were onboarded during holiday periods to minimise disruption, with migrations and permissions scripted and executed collaboratively. Bespoke features like the MegaMenu and automatic student folder access helped streamline the experience and reduce support needs.
The Future
Feedback across the trust has been overwhelmingly positive, with 92% of users rating the new system as good or excellent. Standardisation has boosted collaboration across academies, while the intuitive interface has improved accessibility and saved valuable time for teachers and IT teams. Harris continues to build on this momentum, with Cloud Design Box providing ongoing support and innovation to help the trust deliver on its educational mission.
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