Published June 2023
The Power Platform has come a long way since it was released in 2018. Each part is world class, but their combination together is a game-changer for organisations.
“Powerful alone. Better together”. That’s Microsoft’s tagline for the Power Platform and we have to say – it’s spot on. The Power Platform has been designed to solve a common set of challenges and whilst individually they can be transformational, when you bring them together it creates knowledge, and we all know that knowledge equals power (platform) 😊.
Digitising paper-based processes, improving knowledge management, sharing data and insights, and designing line-of-business apps has truly never been so easy, and the best part is that it can all be done in-house, without the need of external development.
In this blog, we cover 10 things we love about the Power Platform, but first a quick refresher on what the Power Platform is made up from:
- Power BI: Make the right decisions for your organisations by using data-driven insights at the click of a button.
- Power Apps: Solve business challenges by turning your ideas into solutions and enable everyone to build custom apps.
- Power Pages: Build quick low-code external business websites for delivering vital information and services to your customers.
- Power Automate: Boost your organisations productivity by automating organisational processes for everyone.
- Power Virtual Agents: Build chatbots with no coding required to engage with your customers and employees.
1. You’re probably already paying for it
A lot of the capabilities within the Power Platform are included in most Office 365 licences, so it begs the question “Why wouldn’t you use it?”. Is there a manual process you know could be improved with an automated workflow, that’s what Power Automate was built for. Want to modernise a paper-based and manual process stuck in Excel, Word, or an old database, by building an app – you can do that! Maximise your M365 investment and get stuck in.
2. The most vibrant and collaborative community
Who doesn’t like to be part of a community? Those who love the Power Platform are its biggest advocators and regularly create free apps which they are happy to share. There is also an overwhelming amount of free training across all Power Platform apps, free training courses, and endless videos about apps created that have solved common challenges. It’s a nice community that is open to everyone willing to learn.
3. You do not need development experience
What does music to your ears sound like? We’ve got it…you do not have to be developer to use the Power Platform. You heard it right; the Power Platform is low code meaning anyone can use it. Create your automations, apps, visualisations, and chat bots using a drag-and-drop interface.
4. It meets you where you work
This requires a standalone licence, but it unleashes the ultimate powers of the Power Platform. Microsoft uses Dataverse as a first-class Data Platform that underpins other 1st party experiences Microsoft creates such as Dynamics 365 and Project for the Web.
5. Microsoft Dataverse
This requires a standalone licence, but it unleashes the ultimate powers of the Power Platform. Microsoft uses Dataverse as a first-class Data Platform that underpins other 1st party experiences Microsoft creates such as Dynamics 365 and Project for the Web.
6. It’s for everyone
Whether you’re creating a personal app, or making a professional enterprise-grade lifecycle management for business-critical applications, it can scale to meet your business needs.
7. Use your words to solve your problem
Have an idea for an automation? Describe it to Power Automate and it will create it for you! Have an idea for an app? Describe it to Power Apps (currently in Preview) and not only will it create a responsive app, including your table storage fields, but it’ll also embed a Power Virtual Agent boosted by co-pilot to ask secure, Chat GPT-powered, questions about your data. Trust us when we say – this is the future!
8. Never worry about security
We know that security is absolutely top-of-mind when it comes to introducing new technology into an organisation. No matter how transformational something such as Power Platform might be, without a security-first mindset no technology platform can seriously be considered.
Thankfully, every component, solution, app and automation developed using Power Platform has security and privacy baked right into its core. You can feel safe knowing that your critical and sensitive business information is secured, thanks to:
- Identity and access management provided by your existing Azure Active Directory environment
- Role-based access controls that minimise governance overhead and maximise security and control
- Data encryption at rest and in transit
- Data-loss prevention policies that prevent your sensitive business data from being inadvertently shared or published
- Auditing and monitoring capabilities
9. Centralise all your business processes
Passwords for everything? Forgot your login? What was the third-party link again? Within the Power Platform there are thousands of connectors both inside and outside of M365 that offer visibility and transparency, so you can do everything from one spot.
10. Free yourself from Excel
Are you sick of version history, changing filters, exporting data, tracking who changed what table rows, etc.? Modernise your legacy processes quickly with Power Apps that import data from excel and then use Power BI to analyse it!
Like what you see?
So now you love the Power Platform as much as we do, what’s next?
We know that it can be daunting not knowing where to start, which is why we have launched a managed service which provides your Power Platform champions with everything they need to empower them to get more done with less.
Our Power Generator managed service provides the insights, controls, skills, and assets needed to drive value from the Power Platform. We’ll work with your organisation to develop a governance framework, undertake training, and provide assets to enable solution makers to fast track their ideas to solutions and take ownership.
Create a new digital business model, achieve faster time to market and increase business agility by designing innovative applications at speed, liberating your talent, and securely unlocking the value of the Microsoft cloud.
On top of that, we offer on-going support to build an app practice with you, develop reusable components, provide advice to your aspirational solution makers, create a marketing campaign for what matters to you (whether it’s the platform or a specific solution), and monitor and manage your apps.
Get in touchAbout the author
Rob Carrington is part of the Engage Sqaured furniture and has spent the last eight years delivering solutions that make our clients work smarter, faster, and more effective across the M365 stack. Rob is Practice Lead of our Business Applications practice and manages a passionate team that live and breath technology.
Rob is based in Sydney where he lives with his wife and two cats. In his free time, you can find him building his dream home and becoming more knowledgeable about the building industry on a day-to-day basis thanks to the complex building regulations.
This blog is part of our ‘modernise and secure teamwork with M365’ campaign. Follow us on LinkedIn as we share our insights across a series of blogs, client success stories, and events, as we explore how M365 can help solve today’s unique set of challenges.
