Ferrovial paves a path forward with Microsoft Edge as default browser for all apps

Ferrovial’s Proud History of Progress

Since its founding in 1952, Ferrovial has always focused on the future, introducing mechanization to railroad construction in Spain before establishing a global footprint in highways, toll roads, airports, energy infrastructure, and mobility. But over the years, the Madrid-based civil engineering firm came to rely on legacy applications that began to hinder the IT department’s evolution. Ferrovial wanted a modern browser but also required compatibility for older apps based in Internet Explorer (IE). 

Microsoft Edge, with a Chromium engine and IE mode, provided a way forward. 

“Selecting Edge was very easy, because for us it was the only possible solution,” says Enrique Oviedo, Head of Workplace at Ferrovial. “Edge is the only browser that offers compatibility mode with IE in a real way.”

The Workplace group is responsible for providing hardware, devices, and applications such as Microsoft 365 to 12,000 Ferrovial users. Project lead Violeta Rivera notes that when the Edge deployment began in October 2020, the company had 30 to 40 apps that didn’t run properly in modern browsers. They had to ensure those essential apps continued operating following the retirement of IE in June.

One Browser, One Email, One Successful Change

Rolling out a new browser for a multinational company might appear daunting, but Ferrovial’s implementation was seamless. “It was a really easy change,” says Manuel Castro, Project Manager for Workplace Projects. 

Ferrovial sent an email to employees detailing the shift away from IE, including a guide on importing bookmarks, and then set Microsoft Edge as the default browser. “It took just one change management email for us, and meanwhile the different project managers could work on apps under the hood without impacting the user experience,” Oviedo says. 

The Workplace team ran two pilots within the IT department to get older apps running in Edge, and then Rivera worked with cross-functional colleagues to test all the company’s apps in the browser. Whenever issues arose, Castro collaborated with Microsoft’s FastTrack team to assist with technical concerns and integrating apps with IE mode—a level of support that was crucial in selecting Edge over Google Chrome. 

“We don’t have complaints from our users about malfunctioning applications due to the browser,” says Oviedo, who also estimates that 99 percent of websites now work properly in Edge. 

“Users have greatly improved their daily experience by being able to run modern and legacy applications using the same browser,” agrees Rivera, who is now a UX/UI Designer.

Another important factor for the project’s success, according to Castro, was that the Workplace team had already used Enterprise Site List Manager when they moved from IE7 to IE11. That experience meant that the team had systems in place for adding apps to the IE mode list. While Ferrovial employees leverage IE mode’s compatibility to use legacy apps, project managers are working in the background to modernize them one by one, a time-consuming process they have leeway to complete with IE mode supported until at least 2029. 

Covering All Users’ Needs

The adoption of Microsoft Edge has also benefitted the Workplace, IT, and security teams, particularly through policy features that align to the Zero Trust security strategy. Castro says that although Chrome and Edge have a similar number of policies, the extra configuration policies in Edge helped them set up the browser to better fit their security needs, such as blocking password storage in Edge so that unauthorized users can’t access protected sites on employees’ computers. Oviedo uses some policies to implement compliance recommendations from internal IT audits. 

The Workplace team also appreciates Edge’s frequent updates, which provide added security and continuous improvements to the browser. In addition, consolidating to just one browser has made management easier, as Castro explains. “If you have several browsers, you have to support all of them, so it’s much better to have one that covers all the people’s needs.”

With Edge delivering a single solution for all users and apps, Ferrovial has built the road to tomorrow by bridging past and present.

Find out more about Ferrovial on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and YouTube.