MottMac democratises AI with Microsoft Azure Foundry AI

In the past 18 months, MottMac has used Azure AI to “empower more than 3,000 citizen developers [its staff] through its digital workspaces platform, a collaborative, secure environment that unlocks staff creativity and enables rapid innovation”. According to the engineering consultancy, this approach enables teams across the business to “dynamically access high-performance computing resources and deliver faster, AI-enabled digital solutions that directly address client needs, while maintaining governance and agility”.

MottMac has integrated the technology into its consent management solution to deliver critical public consultations faster and more accurately for major projects. Similarly, a significant chat-powered upgrade to the company’s Carbon Portal has democratised low-carbon design optimisation.

Azure provides the scalable cloud infrastructure for AI development, while Microsoft 365 Copilot is “rapidly becoming the everyday companion for individuals and project teams”, according to Microsoft. Nasrine Tomasi, MottMac’s head of AI, explained: “Copilot is our main entry point to AI. People use it for efficiency and communication – summarising meetings, capturing actions, preparing reviews.”

At enterprise level, Azure AI Foundry enables more advanced work: training and deploying models, monitoring risk and governance, and delivering custom solutions. “Our entire AI pathway is supported by Microsoft,” added Tomasi.

Indeed, using the Microsoft technology, MottMac has developed an AI assistant that draws on the consultancy’s knowledge. It is known as EMMA – short for Every Mott MacDonald Answer. Tomasi said: “Microsoft 365 Copilot is fantastic, but we wanted something that understands Mott MacDonald’s DNA – our projects, policies and technical language. EMMA is that window into our collective knowledge.