How data is helping some of the UK’s busiest airports reach new heights

MAG is using Microsoft Azure, Surface devices, Microsoft 365 and Power Platform to connect its 40,000 staff, helping them communicate, innovate, collaborate and collect and share information seamlessly and in real-time.

It has created a flowing network of data that gives employees greater insight into what's happening across the site, enabling them to make passenger journeys easier and more comfortable.

[Link] Every year, 60 million passengers fly through Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports. East Midlands also handles more than 800,000 tonnes of air cargo (worth a total of £27.5 billion) on over 40,000 dedicated freighter flights; so MAG needed technology that was innovative, reliable and secure.

'We were already using Microsoft 365 when COVID-19 hit,' said Nicholas Woods, Chief Information Officer at MAG. 'What the pandemic did was speed up adoption and as people used it more, they found it enabled them to do so many new and exciting things. It allowed them to work quicker and smarter. This experience created the appetite for more technology. A digital transformation that would have usually taken three years saw adoption and innovation in a matter of months.'

MAG quickly launched Microsoft Teams, OneDrive and OneNote training sessions, adapted for people's level of confidence in using the technology. The sessions empowered staff to collaborate and communicate from any location, while 'In Context' sessions helped entire departments use Microsoft 365 on specific projects. Using technology to enable hybrid working is something that's top of mind for MAG.

Woods added: 'The pandemic changed everything, including how our people work. Going forward, we will continue to support colleagues as they work in a way that suits them - that might be working from home, at an MAG site or a combination of the two. The key thing is that we now have the technology to be able to make those decisions work for our employees.'

Some roles are more adaptable to a hybrid way of working than others - for example, MAG owns and operates three out of the top four cargo airports in the UK, and moving items requires staff to be on site. However, where possible, MAG delivers a 'best-in-class digital experience for employees, enabling a balanced, sustainable and resilient workplace of the future'.