International Airlines Group (IAG), the parent company of British Airways and Iberia, and one of the world’s largest airline groups, has selected Microsoft Office 365 as the business communication solution for around 58,000 employees, enabling its workforce to collaborate virtually anytime, anywhere around the world.
“Giving our employees the tools and freedom to achieve more in their day-to-day activities was a key component in our decision to engage with Microsoft,” said Nigel Underwood, Chief Information officer, IAG.
“Office 365 will allow employees to collaborate and achieve their work tasks regardless of the platform, product or device. This is an excellent example of IAG enabling change within the group to create a common IT platform for our airlines which will be more efficient and reduce our costs,” added Underwood.
“Office 365 is on track to becoming one of the fastest growing products in our history. Globally, 1 in 5 Microsoft enterprise business customers are now using Office 365, which is up from 1 in 7 last year.
“The adoption by International Airlines Group (IAG) is the validation that only Microsoft offers the highest level of rich-user experience, security, privacy, and the needed flexibility for the customers to move to cloud at their own pace – having hybrid (both on premise, and on cloud environments at the same time that work together seamlessly) environments while they move to cloud,” said Ramkumar Pichai, GM – Microsoft Office Division, Microsoft India.
IAG sought an all-encompassing solution for British Airways, Iberia, IAG Cargo and Avios that would provide a new way for employees to easily work together, as well as ensure access to the mission-critical enterprise tools a global airline group requires.
The new Enterprise Agreement includes Office 365, with Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Lync Online and Yammer, and provides the necessary features and security to help British Airways and Iberia transform their businesses and use cloud based solutions.
In particular, a key part of the airline’s strategy for the future is better internal communication and collaboration through the use of social tools. Yammer brings together the companies’ employees inside a private and secured enterprise network that enables communication, collaboration and information sharing regardless of business unit or location.
For British Airways and Iberia, this addresses major areas such as quickly understanding feedback from customers, responding swiftly to market changes, and keeping all levels of the organization engaged in delivering the group’s vision.
British Airways, Iberia and Vueling are part of International Airlines Group, which is the third-largest airline group in Europe and the sixth-largest in the world based on revenue, with 420 aircrafts flying to 230 destinations and carrying more than 69 million passengers each year.
