What is the Microsoft Power Platform?
No Code App Creation | Process Automation | Business Analytics
‘The modern workplace’… Is a new term to describe the cutting-edge tools, some forward thinking companies are using to digitalise their workplace. At the present time, the Microsoft Power Platform apps play a key role in this, along with other apps like SharePoint and Teams. Classed as ‘low-code / no-code’ services, using these products means you don’t need to be a tech expert. In essence, this empowers all staff to be a Power Platform developer.
In short, it is a group of Microsoft products, that each provide great digital solutions on their own. However, connect them together and they provide a complete, seamless modern workplace. They are also part of the wider Microsoft 365 (formally, Office 365) range. Which also includes SharePoint, Teams and other collaboration tools.
Meet the Power Platform family
POWERAPPS
First up is PowerApps, aimed at the ‘low-code’ developer, to create apps for either the web, mobile, or tablet. These apps can pull data and from hundreds of third party apps, however complex apps, may need a PowerApps developer.
POWER AUTOMATE
Secondly, we have Power Automate, the business workflow tool your staff can use to automate business processes. Moving data between apps and taking manual tasks out of your hands. You should consult a Power Automate developer for complex solutions. However, basic workflow templates are available for regular end-users, or citizen developers.
POWERBI
Another app is PowerBI, used to create visual dashboards for reporting. Which basically provides a place for your data to be surfaced, in user friendly dashboards. Also, PowerBI can pull data from a many complex data sources. In essence, PowerBI is should be end-user friendly. However, to create a complex PowerBI dashboard, you will need the help of a Power Platform developer.
VIRTUAL AGENTS
Lastly, the latest and maybe the coolest app in the group. In short, the aim of virtual agents or ‘chatbots’, is to provide online help for staff members. You can add these virtual agents within any Microsoft app: Teams, SharePoint, PowerApps etc. For example, you can add a bot Microsoft Teams, to advise staff on how to book travel.
Want to know more?
Book a free one hour session and we will gladly break down how you can get the most out of these tools.
Avoid setbacks down the line. Get setup properly
As seasoned Power Platform developers, we see a very common mistake with firms getting setup with the Power Platform. We want to equipped you with this knowledge, so you avoid the same trap. Especially, if you haven’t yet purchased the tools, or have set them up recently.
OK. So, you’ve bought Microsoft 365 and want to roll the Power Platform out across your company. While most companies think that’s it, there is still a lot more work to do. At this point, a lot of companies begin handing out licenses as and when they’re needed. Or worse, they assign everyone a license. If you ask anyone who has been an Microsoft 365 admin, they will tell you, things quickly get out of control! In short, if you give users free rein to create workflows, apps and dashboards, it will quickly lead to a mess of unmanaged data and half finished solutions. Ultimately causing problems with user experience, security, governance and compliance. Resulting in your Power Platform becoming beyond manageable. There are three simple steps you can put into place, to avoid making this mistake:
GOVERNANCE
Basically, what we mean by governance is, applying the correct limitations, checks and control over your apps and solutions. In order to apply restraint to what your end-users can and what they can’t do. In the long run, this will ensure your tenant doesn’t turn into the ‘digital wild-west’. A Power Platform developer can automate this for you, so you don’t need to manage your governance manually.
CONFIGURATION
In order to keep your tools well managed, you need to make sure they are setup properly from the start! Obviously, security and data regulations need to be precisely setup to avoid major issues. But also, setting up things like, access rights, will stop the wrong people being able to do certain tasks. Also, removing features that aren’t need will limit user confusion.
STRUCTURE
Obviously, keeping your solutions well structured and in order, will help to manage and sort them. For this reason, carefully planning and mapping out how your apps will be structured, means you can picture how your apps will be organised. Also adding things like naming conventions, will help you categorise and locate your solutions.
Find out your flaws!
Get one of our Power Platform developers to complete a free review of your setup, to find where we can add improvement, or identify issues.
What companies use the Microsoft Power Platform?
Firstly, we can look at the role the Power Platform plays in a business. The Power Platform provides a way to develop, automate and visualise business apps and the data they hold.
Mostly it is medium to large companies who see the benefit in these tools, as they have lots of data they need make sense of. They also have more detailed processes that need to be automated, to simplify their more complex business structures. Smaller companies however, are in a great position to utilise the Power Platform. Benefiting from the pricing model (you only pay per user).Do you need a Microsoft Power Platform developer?
The Microsoft Power Platform has been created to be easy to use for a non developer. However, this isn’t always possible. So, for more complex apps you need a professional power platform developer. Ultimately, we would only advise taking on power platform development yourself with fairly easy apps.
Knowledge drives user adoption
Getting setup and ready for people to use is a great start, but from our many years as Power Platform developers, we have found the real challenge lies in user adoption. Getting staff to embrace new tech and put it into practice can be more tricky than you think. Humans are creatures of habit, so we will stick to what we know, until we see the benefit in change.
It’s for this reason why we believe arming your team with the knowledge of how to use the platform and showing them the benefits is the only way to encourage adoption. After all, we can help to empower your users to adopt the Power Platform, providing the training and resources needed to embrace the change. Our Power Platform consultants are experts in business change and user adoption techniques. In effect, these techniques will get even the most non digital members of staff excited about these tools. If you think your company might take a bit more time to embrace the new tech, we can even have a Power Platform developer / consultant come to work with you in-house. Providing one-to-one sessions and interactive group sessions.
Unite the Power Platform to unlock its full power
When used on their own, the Power Platform apps offer great potential to modernise your business. But connecting them together is when you unlock their real strength. Not only just between the apps in the Power Platform, but connecting them with tools and services across the Microsoft family (and beyond). Worldwide, office standard apps like Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint can be connected, to easily and securely pass your data between them. On-top of that, there are hundreds of external apps that can also be connected. Including popular products and services like LinkedIn, Salesforce and ServiceNow. This integration puts the Power Platform at the centre of any forward-thinking business and is the core of any modern workplace.
If you want to find out where the potential lies within your company, to unlock the full integration capabilities of the Power Platform. A Power Platform developer from our team can do an assessment of your current tools. We will provide you with a FREE detailed report of how you can connect these services together using the Power Platform.
Speak to one of our consultants to arrange your free app integration review
Sometime you just need a Power Platform developer
Created to help empower average users to create their own solutions. This not only reduces strain on IT, but also gives users more freedom to get creative. Microsoft refer to the apps in the Power Platform as ‘no-code‘ and ‘low-code‘ products. Meaning that solutions can be built using a graphical interface, with little to no need for any coding to be added. Using these no-code and low-code techniques users can build apps with a great level of custom elements, however there are limits.
As well as having a focus on being easy to use for the average user, the suite of apps also has the power to create enterprise level applications. To unlock these capabilities, coding knowledge is needed and probably the help of an expert Power Platform developer.
If you have a requirement to build an app that you think may be out of the scope of your teams knowledge, that’s where we come in. Our expert developers will work to your specific requirements to build you a complex enterprise-level application, that can be used by the whole business. Our developers and designers go the extra mile and provide slick, modern designs along with fast and secure performance.
How we can help
At threesixfive, we are a team of professional PowerPlatform developers. We have consultants who focus on PowerApps development, Power Automate development and PowerBI development. Which means you can get help from an experienced developer in the particular field you need. We can provide on-site, or remote assistance, whether you need a complex business solution, or just some help and advice.
