Case Study: MARS achieves a modern, secure, and mobile digital workplace with Microsoft Azure

With bold growth goals, MARS chooses Windows 10 for its digital workspace

MARS, the 100‑year‑old maker of brands like M&M’s and Pedigree with 80,000 Associates in 78 countries and $35B in annual revenue, needed a modern, secure, and mobile digital workspace to support aggressive growth goals and avoid costly, disruptive OS upgrades. The company wanted tools that would boost employee productivity, attract and retain digital‑native talent, protect corporate data, and reduce IT overhead across 400 locations worldwide.

MARS adopted Windows 10 Enterprise, Office 365, Microsoft Surface devices, Azure, and a “Windows as a service” model, plus Windows Defender and other built‑in security features, and began moving workloads to the cloud. The rollout (12,500 seats by early 2017) improved collaboration (Yammer and Skype usage), sped field resolution times, created an evergreen OS estate, cut third‑party licensing costs (about $250K/year) and avoided multimillion‑dollar upgrade projects—freeing IT to focus on innovation and business value.

MARS

David Boersma

Senior Manager for End User Technologies