Power Platform is used to overcome staffing constraints in today’s fast-paced business world as hiring remains difficult and labor costs continue to rise. The need to overcome these constraints has never been more pressing, and Business Process Automation (BPA) is a crucial solution to implement. Well, Microsoft has got you covered! They recently conducted a study with Forrester Total Economic Impact to show the value of their platform. This study found that companies can increase business value using the premium Microsoft Power Platform. Customers using advanced features of the platform saw a significant increase in their return on investment (ROI) by 140% on top of the 502% ROI they already earned with the standard Microsoft Power Platform. Additionally, they experienced a decrease in application development costs by 45% and a net present value of $8.32 million over three years. It shows automation certainly helps organizations increase efficiency, improve accuracy, and reduce staffing constraints and costs. This article will explore the standard Microsoft Power Platform and how it can help organizations. Keep reading to learn more.
Understanding the Microsoft Power Platform
The Microsoft Power Platform is a low-code platform that empowers organizations to automate their business processes and streamline custom application creation. It means that you don’t need an IT team to be able to take advantage of the platform’s capabilities. Instead, you can use a simple graphical interface to build your applications required, helping you save time and resources.
Four Key Components of Microsoft Power Platform
1. Power Apps
Have you ever wished to build your custom mobile app? With Microsoft Power Apps, that dream can become a reality. This platform-as-a-service offers a drag-and-drop feature for building user interfaces and connecting to various data sources. The best part? No coding experience is required! You can build the following with Power Apps:
- Internal mobile applications for web browsers
- Native mobile apps for Android, iOS, and Windows
Add text boxes, choice fields, and other necessary features to your app and publish it for your organization. The only catch? This platform is “no code,” so you won’t be able to tweak the underlying HTML code or control UI elements. 
If you’re already using Office 365 Enterprise or higher, Power Apps comes with your subscription. There’s also a community plan available for those just getting started. So why not try it and bring your app-building dreams to life?
Power Automate
The Power Automate component of the Microsoft Power Platform is a game-changer for modern businesses. No more manual tasks or endless hours of writing code. Power Automate automates workflows with ease. Pick a workflow template or start building your own, and you’re on your way to a more efficient and streamlined work environment. Power Automate is ideal for executives, whether they need to automate policies or send emails upon task completion. With three main types of workflows, you can choose the one that best fits your needs.
- Automated
- Scheduled
- Button
Specific actions trigger automated workflows, while scheduled workflows run at particular times, and button workflows activate with a click.
Power BI
Power BI offers self-service analytics, so you can easily connect and explore a variety of data sources. Whether you’re using the desktop version or the cloud-based Power BI Service, this tool will help you design engaging reports, dashboards, and stories with eye-catching visuals. Available for free on Windows, the Power BI Desktop feature is a great starting point for small businesses, but it continues beyond there. You may upgrade to the cloud-based service for even more features and functionality. With Power BI, you quickly gain insights into your data and make informed decisions that drive growth and success.
Power Virtual Agents
Whether you’re an IT manager looking to support your company’s growth or a CIO looking to implement a cloud strategy, Microsoft Power Platform has a solution for you. Power Virtual Agents can help solve everyday business problems and boost your operations.
These bot-building services allow business users to create a virtual chat agent without requiring coding. Instead, you design and implement your chatbot with the easy-to-use graphical interface in the Power Virtual Agents portal. “Say hello to your new chatbot companion.” Power Virtual Agents make building and deploying your custom chatbot easy. From the creation of dialogs to deployment on platforms like Slack, Skype, and Teams, Power Virtual Agents handle it all. Plus, it integrates with other Power Platform tools like Power Automate for added efficiency.
Advantages of Automation with the Power Platform
The Power Platform from Microsoft offers businesses a powerful solution for automating their processes and boosting efficiency. With automation, you can welcome increased productivity, accuracy, and cost savings in your business strategy.
Whether an IT manager or CIO, here’s how the Power Platform will help you quickly tackle everyday business challenges, like staffing constraints.
Using Power Platform for Efficiency and Productivity
Power Automate may help you eliminate tedious and time-consuming manual tasks that your team has to do daily. For example, manually entering data into a spreadsheet can be a slow and error-prone process that takes time. But automation makes it much faster and is less prone to mistakes. In addition, your team can spend more time on tasks that are more valuable to your business, such as analyzing data, developing new products, or serving customers.
- By improving efficiency and productivity, your business will be able to work more effectively and efficiently.
- It benefits your entire organization, including business units, team members, and everyone involved.
- A more streamlined and efficient business means you can accomplish more in less time, which helps you stay ahead of your competition and achieve your business goals.
Time and cost reductions with Power Platform
If your team is currently using paper-based methods to complete their tasks, automation can help speed up the process and reduce the time and costs associated. That is because automation eliminates the need for physical data entry, reducing the risk of errors and freeing up your employees. Additionally, automating processes helps save money on resources needed to complete them. It includes:
- Printing costs
- Staff time
- Manual operation expenses
Streamline Data Management
Data and document management can be challenging, mainly when relying on manual processes. In these situations, keeping track of important documents, like emails, spreadsheets, and other written communications may lead to disorganization and confusion, impacting productivity and efficiency. To avoid these issues, many organizations choose to implement process automation. It involves centralizing your documents and data in one secure location, making it easier to manage, organize, and retrieve them as needed. By doing this, you can eliminate the need for manual data entry, retrieval, and calculation, which helps to minimize the risk of human errors and save time.
Visibility and transparency
You can gather data, create reports, and perform analytics with automation. It provides a clear view of everyone’s work through dashboards. Having visibility and transparency of what your team is doing makes it easier to make informed decisions. You’ll understand what’s happening and see where everyone is helping avoid misunderstandings and miscommunications, and it also makes it easier to identify areas that need improvement.
Compliance & Standardization
With BPA, businesses can ensure that everyone follows the same steps and that everything runs smoothly. It helps to create a more efficient digital workflow and saves time and resources.
Another critical aspect of the process is the ability to track who is using what data by logging names, dates, and other details. It helps businesses track who is using what data, create audit trails, and demonstrate compliance with industry standards.
Implementing Automation with the Power Platform
Implementing automation with the Power Platform requires organizations to identify business areas that can benefit from automation. Some common areas include:
- Accounts Payable / Receivable: Significantly improve the efficiency and accuracy of financial transactions and free up time and resources for other areas.
- Inspections: Streamline operations by providing electronic forms, real-time data syncing, and automatic report generation, ensuring consistency and reducing human error.
- Maintenance: Reduce downtime on necessary tasks such as monitoring and updating software systems, tracking inventory levels, and reporting on equipment status.
Power Apps allows for creating custom apps, allowing organizations to tailor their technology to their specific needs. Meanwhile, Power BI provides robust data analysis and visualization capabilities, allowing organizations to identify trends and make data-driven decisions quickly. Finally, Power Virtual Agents enables organizations to implement chatbots and conversational AI, improving customer service and providing instant support to customers and employees.
Scheduling a No-Obligation Consultation With a Cloud advisor
In today’s fast-paced business world, staffing constraints can be a real challenge. But, with automation, you can increase efficiency, improve accuracy, and reduce staffing constraints and costs. Microsoft Power Platform can help you overcome these constraints and take your business to the next level. So, what’s stopping you from giving it a try? Whether you want to implement automation for the first time or scale up your existing efforts for a growing business, it’s a valuable tool. Do you want to empower your organization with Power Platform, or do you want to scale up your existing automation for your growing business? Schedule a no-obligation consultation with a cloud advisor today. Or contact us for more information.
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