Heathrow Airport inspires employee engagement with Microsoft Power Apps

Heathrow Airport could almost qualify as a small city in its own right. Every day, 76,000 people go to work at one of Europe’s busiest airports in order to facilitate the travel needs of more than 80 million passengers. These passengers could be headed almost anywhere, as Heathrow serves more than 200 destinations in 84 countries. Orchestrating logistics at this magnitude takes a lot of doing, and Heathrow is constantly looking for ways to optimize its operations.

Recently, during one such initiative, plans to digitize operations at Heathrow included the adoption of Microsoft Office 365 for all Heathrow employees, including first-line workers. “Before Office 365, we didn’t even have corporate email addresses,” recalls Samit Saini, IT Solution Specialist at Heathrow Airport. At the time, Saini worked in airport security. Upon providing his new email, Saini’s business change manager asked him and a few others in his department to explore Office 365 and provide feedback.

That night, Saini put his children to bed and then began exploring the many aspects of the solution. Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Word he knew, but he’d never been exposed to other products like Microsoft Forms, OneNote, or Sway. Clicking through each solution in turn, he eventually discovered Microsoft Power Apps, which allows employees to build apps that solve business problems through intuitive visual tools that require little to no code. Saini built his very first test app that night. “That felt like such a wonderful accomplishment,” says Saini. “I felt smart, knowing that I had created something that I could see would make a difference at Heathrow. I also wondered why nobody seemed to know how amazing Power Apps was.” Saini wanted to share his discovery with management as soon as possible, but to do that he knew he’d need a strong proof of concept.

Demonstrating value

Saini immediately knew what his proof of concept app would be. For years, Saini used something called the “language book” in his security position. This book housed all the airport’s passenger-facing rules regarding what could and could not be brought aboard airplanes, translated into numerous languages. Kept at security checkpoints, the language book was a fantastic aid for security personnel. Even prior to his exposure to Power Apps, Saini had broached the subject of a language book app to Heathrow IT. Developing an app from scratch would have been a labor-intensive process, however. Now supplied with access to Power Apps, Saini suddenly had a more cost-effective option at hand. 

Saini built his mobile language book in Power Apps within a week. “Building that first app was what made me passionate about Power Apps,” says Saini. “It required little coding and I was excited to show it to my manager.” Saini’s manager was equally stunned by the app’s usefulness and lack of development cost. Today, that app is used every day by all of Heathrow’s security officers and managers. As word of the success of this first app spread across the airport, so did Saini’s name as its developer. IT employees were curious not only about the potential of Power Apps, but also about the man who had brought this new solution to light. After a few conversations on his vision for Power Apps at Heathrow, IT created the position of IT Solution Specialist for Saini.

Inspiring growth

In his new position, Saini tasked himself with broadening his understanding and use of Power Apps across Heathrow. He wanted others to experience the same moment of triumph he had upon completing his first app. “Power Apps gives everyone the ability to build apps,” says Saini. “Completing a project like that gives people a sense of accomplishment. It certainly has for me.” 

Saini’s rallying cry of self-empowerment, paired with the example of his own success, has been a powerful motivator. One after another, employees across departments have appeared at the threshold of the newly christened office of the IT Solution Specialist, each with their own app ideas. Among the first of these motivated individuals were Insurance Claims Officer Nazma Bashir, Security Programmer Courtney Morris-Carnegie, and Aviation Security Officer Andrew Gray.

To aid Heathrow employees in their app-making journeys, Saini created several support structures. Before employees begin work on their apps, they are asked to quantify its potential benefits. If the app saves time or paper and had a broad enough target user base, it will likely be greenlighted by departmental SharePoint administrators. This cuts down on bloat and prevents the development of redundant apps. “One of our more impactful apps, the Safe Not-Safe App actually began as two similar projects stemming from a combined need from two departments,” says Saini. “By bringing the two developers (and really their departments) together, we now have a single, simple app that has been adopted across the entire airport.”

Once greenlit, everyone working on an app is added to a Microsoft SharePoint database through which Saini can track apps in development, the roadblocks encountered, app updates, and new functionalities added to existing apps. Employees developing apps are also invited to monthly Power Apps “super user” meetings where they can share their app concepts, ask for feedback or support, and offer advice to each other. “It’s quite a good feeling, being in the position where I can take some of the skills that I’ve learned and help bring other peoples’ ideas into reality,” says Courtney Morris-Carnegie. “I think that’s evidence of how accessible the platform really is.” 

Transitioning from insight to impact

For many members of the Power Apps super user community at Heathrow, the experience has been a transformative one. For Bashir, it was a way to continue her education. “I had recently returned to Heathrow after taking maternity leave,” says Bashir. “I felt as if I was doing so little for myself at the time, and Samit really inspired me to continue my education.” Following a path similar to Saini’s, Bashir learned Power Apps overnight. Then she began watching videos and improving her understanding of Excel and other elements of Office 365. 

Soon after she returned to work, Bashir had the opportunity to take on her current role as a claims officer. As she learned the position’s established processes, she couldn’t help but imagine how Power Apps might help refine them. After reaching out to the super user community, Bashir began to use her newfound knowledge of Excel to build a replacement for some of the most time-consuming aspects of her role. “The process has been a lot easier than I thought,” says Bashir. “Now that I have experienced benefits of teaching myself these new skills, I have made it my goal to reach out to other people, help them break free of their comfort zones, and discover the value they can realize for themselves through Power Apps.” 

Bashir’s story of empowerment is echoed by many of her peers at Heathrow. Gray, for example, has seen his career take off in the years since he developed his security equipment app. “Using Power Apps, I have grown as an individual, both personally and professionally,” says Gray. “It showed me that I am not too old to learn new things. Having that knowledge, and being empowered by it, has since enabled me to move my career forward several times.” Gray, who began his career in security alongside Saini, is now Airport Revenue Executive at Heathrow. So far, 14 of the airport’s employees have garnered promotions due to skills they obtained learning Power Apps. A further 15 first-line colleagues are currently turning their ideas into reality using Power Apps, leading the next wave of transformation in their respective business units.

Powering innovation

The success of employee-created apps are evidence of the broader movement underway at Heathrow. Saini, using Power Apps and his own ingenuity, has encouraged a culture of creative problem-solving among the airport’s first-line employees, a previously untapped resource that many companies have yet to explore. First-line workers, with their intimate knowledge of the daily tasks that keep large organizations operating, often know exactly how to optimize those tasks. As Saini discovered early on, many of these digitization initiatives are cost prohibitive for IT departments to address. Power Apps removes these financial barriers, instead relying on the ingenuity of interested employees. 

The Power Apps super user community at Heathrow has already developed and released 30 apps, with more on the way. Each addressing a specific need, these apps have had a broad impact on the airport’s operations. For instance, the vehicular security app, developed by Morris-Carnegie and tasked with logging which vehicles have arrived in secure areas of the airport, saves security personnel approximately 8,000 to 10,000 sheets of paper each month. Thus far, Saini estimates that the Power Apps applications currently deployed at Heathrow save his colleagues 950 working hours and 75,000 sheets of paper each year. 

For Saini, the financial benefits of the Power Apps program have certainly been impressive, but the greatest value he sees is a human one. Saini, Bashir, Morris-Carnegie, and other members of the super user group have seen their careers change course for the better since the release of their apps. “My goal was never to build apps for my coworkers,” says Saini. “The aim was to change the culture in and around IT to one of independence, and the Power Apps community, here at Heathrow and at Microsoft and across the internet, is so welcoming and collaborative that nobody ever feels embarrassed to ask for help.” 

Saini is quick to admit that, when it came technological subjects, his scores in school were never at the top of the class. “With Power Apps, it doesn’t matter what your skill levels are,” says Saini. “It doesn’t matter what your background is. This will help you open up your mind to new things. It gives you that sense of belief that you can learn anything.”

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