Microsoft is a big name all over the world – and businesses across Australia use the company’s software to conduct business, collaborate with colleagues, and deliver services to clients.
While your company may already harness the power of Microsoft Teams and the suite of tools in Microsoft Office 365, you probably are yet to use Microsoft Power Platform.
Power Platform is a relative newcomer on the block. It was launched in 2018 and, since then, it has gone through several iterations. Today, Power Platform is used by 16 million users monthly globally.
You might be wondering what Microsoft Power Platform is and how it can help your business. We’ll explore that below.
An overview of Microsoft Power Platform
Microsoft Power Platform is a trio of applications that help businesses harness the power of data analytics, automation, and application development without needing much technical knowledge. The apps included in the service are Power BI, PowerApps and Power Automate, each of which has its own unique function.
Power BI
Power BI is a tool that helps you to make sense of the data that your organisation stores and generates. These days, most business processes are digital. Every time your company makes a sale, or a customer sends an inquiry or you get a bill from your supplier, you create data.
Over time, this data creates insights and patterns. However, analysing vast amounts of information manually is too time-consuming for businesses. Plus, small and medium-sized companies don’t necessarily have the technical expertise to conduct data analytics.
This is where Power BI can be helpful. It’s an intuitive data visualisation tool. Essentially, this app helps you turn the data your organisation produces into visual insights like pie charts, spreadsheets and more, which are easy to understand.
Armed with this data, you can then make more informed business decisions that grow your company/
PowerApps
Applications are fast becoming the future of work and home life. There’s an app for almost everything now! Previously, app development was cordoned off to a select few businesses that had in-house app development expertise or could afford to hire a freelance app developer.
PowerApps changes this game. It’s a tool that enables people of all experience levels to create custom applications, without having to write a single line of code. This means that your company can easily create apps like reservation systems, HR management portals and so on.
Power Automate
A lot of business tasks are highly repetitive and time-consuming, such as data entry, document approvals and invoicing. In fact, research shows that almost half of employees say their efficiency is hampered by repetitive tasks.
By automating repetitive tasks, your employees can focus on higher value work, which will save you time and money in the long run. Power Automate is great for this. The platform helps organisations to harness the power of automation to mechanise routine tasks, so your people can use their skills more strategically.
In fact, almost 90% of SMBs say that automation helps them to keep up with larger competitors by enabling them to be more agile, close more leads, spend less time on repetitive work, reduce mistakes and improve customer service! If you’re yet to automate, it’s definitely something worth exploring.
How to use Power Platform in your business
Microsoft Power Platform is available with a Microsoft Office 365 subscription. Power Platform is just a few clicks away if you already use Microsoft!
We advise all businesses with a Microsoft O365 subscription to explore Power Platform. Even if you only use one of these applications, you could realise huge benefits that save you and your people time and money – as well as spark innovation that catapults your business forward!
While Power Apps is aimed at employees of all technical experience levels, we advise working with a managed IT services provider to get you started. Your IT services provider will help train your people on Power Apps, so they get the most out of the service.
If you like, your provider can even run Power Apps for you, so your people can focus on growing your business.
Ready to start your Microsoft Power Platform journey?
Taking your operations to new heights is all about creating an agile and productive workplace. Microsoft Power Platform can help you achieve this with a wide range of data analysis, automation and application development tools. Whatever sector you work in, this suite of apps can dramatically improve your business’ productivity while reducing costs.
The team here at Connected Platforms are Microsoft experts and will be happy to help boost productivity at work and other business IT support Brisbane wide!
Get in touch with our management team by calling on (07) 3062 6932 or schedule a coffee meeting soon!
