What is Microsoft Power Platform and Why Use it?

Shubhangi Pandey
By | Updated July 21, 2022 | 8 min read
What is Microsoft Power Platform

According to a survey conducted by PMI, one of the top challenges in adopting new project and portfolio management (PPM) tools is ‘lack of consistent methodology’. This survey was done by PMI to understand the motivations that drive individuals to adopt and embrace new PPM software and technologies. Now the question is – can the technical advances and solutions solve the human issue of resistance to change?  

The answer lies somewhere in this sample quote from the survey – “No resistance, just unable to get it running partly due to lack of consistent methodology, partly due to complexity of tool”  

BrightWork 365 PPM software integrates with Microsoft Power Platform to offer a holistic solution to project managers, who are looking to manage their high-level project portfolios with consistent yet not complex technologies.  

 

Watch free webinar: How BrightWork 365 leverages Power Platform for PPM

 

In this article, you will know: 

What is Microsoft Power Platform?  

Benefits of using Power Platform in your organization 

What is Microsoft Power Platform?

Microsoft Power Platform is a suite for business applications or apps that offer a range of capabilities. It serves as Microsoft’s hub for app development, connectivity, business intelligence, and more. The Power Platform aims to centralize all your business processes so you can achieve higher control and optimization. The suite makes it easier for you to align your business operations with your strategic goals. It offers the following four core services: 

Power BI  

Power BI is Microsoft’s service for business analytics. Its main job is to help you analyze data. It connects multiple data sources, visualize data in interactive ways, and come up with data-driven insights that help form business decisions.  

Power Automate (Flow) 

This Microsoft service leverages artificial intelligence to streamline organizational processes. It can help you automate workflows so you can achieve higher productivity.  

Power Apps 

This service offers a range of apps, data connectors, and platforms where you can turn ideas into custom apps with little to no coding.  

Power Virtual Agents 

Another way in which Microsoft uses artificial intelligence – creating and managing intelligent chatbots that can engage with customers as well as employees.  

 

Here’s a quick guide to – How to get started with Microsoft Power Platform  

 

Here are seven ways Microsoft Power Platform can benefit your organization.  

Centralize business processes on one platform

All your business processes carry large amounts of data and business information. With businesses going fully digital, the amount of data and online information is only increasing. It is imperative that all your processes and information are centralized, giving higher visibility and control and easy access to team members. Microsoft Power Platform and its services allow you to integrate different apps and functions so your project teams can easily record and access real-time data. 

Enhance quality of data through accuracy

Project managers often have to turn into business analysts who deal with tonnes of data. The challenges with huge data include capturing relevant data, ensuring accuracy, and applying analytics to solve business challenges. Microsoft Power Apps offer custom apps that solve the first two challenges with custom forms and fields that capture relevant data with high accuracy. What adds further value to this data are the insights that emerge after the application of analytics. Power BI enables the interactive visualization of the data and offers findings that make the data valuable to business.   

Streamline processes to achieve standardization

MS Power Platform enables the application of business intelligence and automation across organizational processes. It allows you to do away with lengthy, time-taking, and redundant procedures and practices for good. Instead of wasting resources on manual tasks, you can now optimize them to cover activities that bring higher values to your business. This brings an added benefit of standardizing the processes within your project teams.   

Improve cost savings

No matter which industry, now companies have to exist on multiple devices to reach their customers. This makes app development a necessary cost for organizations. With this, also comes the vendor subscriptions and licensing. This 2021 Forrester report revealed that Power Apps and Power Automate helped decrease the cost of app development by 70%. In 2019, this report showed how easy development and customization helped companies save over 50% by cutting extra subscription and licensing costs. Another cost-effective benefit of the Platform comes from automation and business intelligence that saves up the time and effort of your resources.  

Facilitate collaboration in remote/hybrid teams

The world went through a big reset in 2020 and businesses did not remain untouched by the same. Ways of working have undergone a huge shift and it is likely to remain so partially, if not fully. Companies underwent remote or hybrid working for sometime and even if the employees are back in offices, the processes have already gone digital. Cloud-based systems and online communication channels are crucial to project teams’ collaboration. Microsoft Power Platform and its apps provide multiple channels to connect with remote team members across locations.  

Ensure data security

Using Power Platform brings you the security standards of Microsoft. You can rely on the Platform’s integrative capacity to store, access, and share your business data. The Azure Active Directory and related security groups ensure the highest cyber and data security standards.   

Ease resistance to change

It is one thing to bring about change and another to manage it successfully. Organizations often struggle to bring in reforms due to resistance. This calls for a shift at both the skill level as well as a psychological level (which may be a bigger barrier to change). This can be achieved more easily with a solution that is easy to learn, train in, and adopt. It will be easier for you to motivate your team members to adopt and adapt to a solution that they know is going to make their work easier.  

 

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Learn how to leverage Microsoft Power Automate for project management with BrightWork 365 in your Microsoft 365 cloud
Shubhangi Pandey
Shubhangi Pandey

Shubhangi is a product marketing enthusiast, who enjoys testing and sharing the BrightWork 365 project portfolio management solution capabilities with Microsoft 365 users. You can see her take on the experience of the template-driven BrightWork 365 solution, its unique project management success approach, and other personalized services across the site and social channels. Beyond BrightWork, Shubhangi loves to hunt for the newest Chai Latte-serving café, where she can read and write for hours.

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