What is Microsoft Power Platform?
Microsoft introduced Power Platform as a low-code toolset that both programmers and non-technical can use for automation, data analysis, application development, and virtual agent creation.
Its main idea is to cut development resources (time and cost) using drag-and-drop configuration while allowing customization to make a best fit solution for your company.
The Power Platform has 4 modules
- Power BI: Data analytics and business intelligence.
- Power Apps: Application development
- Power Automate: Workflow automation.
- Power Pages: Creating simple interactive websites.
These 4 sub-products, of course, can work seamlessly together thanks to the logic of the Power FX programming language. They can harness data from multiple sources, store it at a centralized hub, and monetize it for different applications and user demand.
Power Apps
With Power Apps, users can build apps without much hand-coding. Those apps are usable on laptops, tablets, desktops, online or offline. It has a simplistic design and code involvement for any sophisticated, intelligent type of application.
Also, Power Apps helps build model-driven apps from multiple sources, customize tasks, and streamline business processes. It contains an easy-to-use interface that even non-professional coders can drag and drop to construct simple apps.
Power BI
Whatever you need to know about, Power BI gives you real-time insights and dashboards. These dashboards provide data vital for making decisions, allow live interaction, and convey brilliant information. Channeling data from various sources is made possible with Power BI, giving you a fuller view of your business.
Power Automate
Power Automate initiates process automation to replace manual tasks, reduce bottlenecks, and increase accuracy. This tool can perform simple to advanced automating sequences like making branches or creating trigger responses and actions.
Automate is the connection backbone of the Power ecosystem. Working with Power BI and Power App, it can connect separate systems, extract data from various sources, and translate their data. This allows you to build cross-department automatic workflows, such as a request-approval process or something as complicated as an ERP system.
Power Pages
True to its name, you can use this sub-product for web development. Much like other website builders such as Wix or WordPress, you can easily drag the pre-build components and templates into place and quickly assemble simple pages to which you can add your unique spice later.
Highlighted features
Microsoft Power Platform still has much to unfold, making it the leading low-code solution compared to its peers.
AI
The race for AI is getting more exciting than ever. And a tech giant like Microsoft won’t stand on the sidelines. They have introduced Copilot – an AI system that can help you code, design, write, plan, do research, and so much more.
- AI in Power Automate: You insert natural language expressions of how they want to streamline workflows, and the AI-powered tool will do the rest.
- The AI Builder in Power Apps automatically generates modern apps faster based on your prompts.
- And if you need engaging reports in no time, AI can do that for you. Just submit data into Power BI and list what components you need; Copilot will do the rest.
- AI in Power Pages can help build responsive business websites in minutes.
A versatile dataverse
This cloud-based data storage is designed to manage data used by business applications within the Power Platform. Thanks to its secure and scalable architecture, you can structure different data management frameworks and business logic to ensure all your interconnected applications smoothly operate and align with your business model.
Virtual agents
As said by the name, Power Virtual Agents are intelligent virtual bots that perform manual tasks and communicate at work when needed.
Connecting all the apps
These APIs can expand your digital ecosystems not just by connecting with applications within the Power Platform, but also by connecting with other tools such as Dynamic, 365, and even third-party apps.
You can choose one of these strategies:
- Prebuilt: You use predefined connectors without making modifications. This type of connector often deals with frequently used business process automation.
- Custom: You build function-based connectors to support different scenarios.
One common use case is integrating Power Platform with Teams, SharePoint and Microsoft Dynamic 365 for a comprehensive solution. This usually applied with the case of ERP, HRM and CRM, where it demands a robust infrastructure and cross-department automation process.
With this combo, we have successfully built an ERP system for a Pharmaceutical Business. Learn more about their stories and how you can do it too!
Why low-code? Why Microsoft Power Platform?
Microsoft Power Platform isn’t just a tool that helps organizations adapt and innovate, but also enables individuals and teams to be more agile, creative, and data driven. Along with that, Microsoft Power Platform offers endless possibilities that can change your digital journey:
- Different departments can immediately create cost-effective solutions and accelerate desired results, as Power Platform can cut 45% of costs and deliver 10x faster.
- All tools in Microsoft Power Platform connect well with each other and with hundreds of other Microsoft and third-party apps, increasing 61% of data visibility and protection.
- After 3 years of using Power Platform, business receives a 3,4% increased revenue and 140% ROI.
- Strengthening existing tech stacks and increasing tech ROI are made feasible by the tools in the Power Platform. Microsoft Power Platform tools are natively extensible across the Microsoft Azure cloud and can connect to legacy systems.
*Numbers are taken from TEI Forrester report on Microsoft Power Platform.
Pros & cons of Microsoft Power Platform
Collected from trusted review site such as PeerSpot, G2 and Software Advice, here are some of the top comments from the clients of Microsoft Power Platform:
| Good things | Bad things |
|---|---|
| “The platform is very easy to use with its friendly interface, low learning curve and clear instruction guidelines” – from PeerSpot. “As a Microsoft user, I love Power Platform since it can integrate with other tools for data transferring” – from G2 “Highly scalable and affordable solution for my business” – from PeerSpot “The Power Platform has an extensive templates and components library, which I can drag-and-drop, saving me tons of time on design and development” – from Software Advice. | “Integration with third-party tools can be tricky, as you have customized the API yourself. However, if your tools welcome Microsoft, the process can be quite easy” – From G2 “It can be challenging to debug if you add more complex logic and functionality to the platform” – From G2 “Dealing with extremely high volume of data can be inefficient” – From G2 “The Power FX coding logic can be quite hard to master if you want to expand and upgrade your apps” – From Software Advice. |
Some Microsoft Power Platform Alternatives that you can consider:
- Salesforce Lightning: A low-code app development tool. Like Microsoft, Salesforce has many tools, ranging from data analytics to sales & marketing solutions, which you can integrate into your low-code hub, creating a comprehensive solution.
- Outsystem, Mendix or Pega systemare low-code platforms that focus on app development and process automation.
- Kissflow and Creatio on the other hand, excels in workflow management, optimization and automation.
*This article is a part of our Low-code Platform Guides & Reviews. For more information for decision-making, you can also read:
- 25 Best Low-code Platforms for Startups, SME & Enterprise
- Comparison Of Top 20+ Open-source Low-code Platforms On GitHub
- Review Of Creatio: The Niche Player In Low-code For CRM
- A Guiding Light To Leverage Salesforce Low-code Platform
- An Honest Review of Microsoft Power Apps Low-code
What industries are Microsoft Power Platform best for?
Keep in mind that these examples are not the only thing Microsoft Power Platform can do. At Synodus, we have also adopted this incredible tool to build solutions for clients in real estate, the IT sector, and aviator services.
In reality, the Power Platform can do pretty much every application you can think of. Except for highly complex and enterprise-grade applications. These can be a constraint for low-code capabilities, so you must seek custom development from scratch.
Manufacture
When time becomes precious, optimizing the performance of your production line is a winning strategy to keep your pieces in the supply chain. Here’s what you can build with Power Platform:
- Inventory management.
- ERP system.
- Product scheduling.
- Equipment management system.
- Employee onboarding and training automation.
- HR process for attendance management, request-approve process.
Combining Dynamic 365 Business Central with Power Automate and Power BI, Alsimet – the global metal manufacturer and distributor, build a business management system that can:
- Define and automate workflows in line with their value chain.
- Aid in decision-making with real-time data reports.
Finance
Good customer experience and high security are what matter to the longevity of a finance institution. Putting low-code into your finance tech stacks can bring many benefits. Here what’s Power Platform can build:
- Self-services portal for customers to sign up for a service.
- Automated onboarding process.
- Mobile banking.
- CRM.
- Loan solutions.
Using Power Platform, mainly Power Apps, HSBC was able to quickly build a lending solution in 90 days with around 50% cost savings.
Healthcare
Free your healthcare workers from paperwork and let them focus on what matters the most: taking care of patients and saving their lives. Here’s how Microsoft Power Platform can offer a helping hand:
- Self-services portal for patients to book an appointment or check their test results.
- Patient data management.
- Automate paper-based workflows.
- Inventory management for health equipment and medication.
UH Cutler Center for Men developed a team of Joes – the care navigators and assistants – using Microsoft Power Platform, which has saved 90% of time on manual registration. Joe can communicate with patients, analyze patients’ conditions in real-time, and navigate the right healthcare providers for the patients.
Education
Enhancing your studying experience with these applications:
- Automated student enrollment and onboarding.
- Virtual library and assistant for learning.
REVA University in India utilized the entire Microsoft ecosystem for over 15000 students and 1000 teachers. They have used:
- Microsoft Teams for remote and blended learning
- Power Automate with Microsoft Forms to automatically onboard and offboard students and teachers.
- They build an AI-conversational platform that can provide training and helpdesk for students.
Retail
Top types of applications that Power Platform can build to enhance your operation and customer engagement:
- Inventory tracking
- Store analytics and management
- Point-of-sales system
- CRM
- Supplier and vendor management
Walgreen Boots Alliance adapted Microsoft Power Platform to develop an Asset Protection program against theft and loss.
By combining Power Apps, Power BI, and Power Automate, they first reduced development time by 50 to 80%. Afterward, the manager takes 75% less time to audit each store, lost data is improved, and employees across 25 countries can share business insights of their regions.
Insurance
Using the Microsoft low-code platform for insurance can be a great move to process your customer’s order faster with more accuracy.
- Agent and broker management system
- Policy management system
- CRM
- Automate claim processing
QuoteWizard built an automated, AI-powered engineering ticket routing and scheduling platform that matches their clients to the right talent at the very beginning. This made assignment and scheduling processes more efficient, increased accuracy, and enhanced customer satisfaction.
Power Platform pricing: Low investment, High return
| Min | Max | Free version | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Power BI | $10/ user/ month | $20/ user/ month | Yes |
| Power Apps | $20/ user/ month | No | |
| Power Automate | $15/ user/ month | $150/ bot/month | No |
| Power Page | $200/ 100 authenticated user/month | $75/ 500 anonymous users/ month | No |
| AI Builder | $500/ unit/ month | No |
For more details on the price of power platform, you can learn the details here!
However, this isn’t the final price. There are many other hidden costs that you should take in account, for examples:
- The training and deployment budget across the organizations, making sure it’s ready to be used.
- If you are looking for low-code developers specialized in Microsoft Power Platform to customize your app, it can lead to a significant rise in costs. Depending on where your developers stay, the price can vary. For examples, it’s around $30 to $70 for a low-code developers in Europe and American, while in Vietnam, companies like Synodus only take between $20 to $30.
To accurately estimate your low-code project price, you can read more here!
Is Microsoft suitable for my business?
As I mentioned before, a complex project can be challenging for low-code to deal with. Low-code excels in simple to middle-sized projects.
But how can you tell where your project falls in?
One way is to consult with an expert in the field. At Synodus, there are 250+ professional developers that are ready to hear your idea, without any fee, of course!
Being the gold partner of Microsoft in Data analytics and Low-code development, we have worked with business from various sector in their digital transformation journey, notably:
- Building a task management system for 2000 users in 10 weeks with 4 developers!
- Developing a HRM system that automates 65% of manual tasks.
- Create complex system such as CRM and ERP
With a surging 88% client satisfaction and 5 stars review on Clutch, we are here to deliver and become your technical sidekick that you can confine in.
