Power(tier) to the people! How Microsoft PowerApps, Flow and Power BI can empower your users

With the launch of Microsoft Dynamics 365 and all the fanfare that surrounded it, one of the most compelling new elements to the suite may have been overlooked by many – the inclusion of PowerApps, Flow and Power BI into the Microsoft Dynamics 365 licences (as well as for all Office 365 Enterprise Plans).

At eBECS we have been working with PowerApps for some time now (we were a launch partner) and have already created some really compelling solutions for customers, but it didn’t really hit me how the whole “Power Tier” (PowerApps, Flow and Power BI) could be so game changing until I built an app while sat in a pub on my phone (I know, should work on my social skills!). 

As someone who isn’t that technical, it’s really exciting to be able to create solutions that work for me without having to be a professional developer or even ‘speak’ developer. I can do this as the individual Power Stack components have been designed so that professional developers do the heavy lifting, and then end users are able to then use connections, workflows and templates to customise them for their needs with minimal effort and training.

Why is this important? Firstly, it allows far greater flexibility for users to use the tools the way they want without having to rely on their IT teams to do it for them. In the modern working environment, organisations change a lot faster and more frequently than ever before which has resulted in either workarounds which break processes or shadow IT solutions which aren’t managed properly by the organisation. Secondly, and I think most importantly, allowing end users the ability to craft their own solutions (which still adhere to processes and security models) results in a much more intuitive solution for them – to quote an old welsh proverb, what you grow yourself is better than something you buy. 

So what do the different tools do?

Microsoft PowerApps

PowerApps allow users to create mobile applications very quickly (in one example we helped a customer develop a mobile application in two weeks that they had estimated would take six months) across all mobile platforms that ties in to the systems they use today without writing the integrations (both Microsoft and non-Microsoft including Microsoft Dynamics, Office 365, Microsoft Azure, Dropbox, Salesforce and Slack). Even if the integrations don’t exist today, PowerApps make it easy to integrate them yourself.

Microsoft Flow

Flow allows really users to create workflows (similar to IFTT) that work across your services in a really simple way – as an example I created a flow that takes attachments sent to me via email and places a copy in a folder in OneDrive for business so I can search for them easier. I know this is a simple example, but I set it up in 30 seconds from my phone – how long would it have taken to do this using code (even if I knew how to do it!). Again, this is because the more difficult work was done by a developer to create a template which they can then share either internally within your organisation or for the community minded for others to use.

Power BI

I have spoken previously of how much I love Power BI. As part of the Dynamics 365 licence package, end users get access to Power BI which enables them to make use of the most powerful BI package out there (Gartner agrees with me!) without buying additional licences. Power BI enables end users to create incredibly rich visualizations of their data in an easy to use, interactive format that they can view on any device. They can also ask questions of this data (see Power BI Q&A) to help them gain insight in a way that has never been possible before without prohibitively expensive tools. 

My key takeaways are below – what are yours?

• The “Power Tier” allows end users to create their own tools without having to get IT to build everything for them

• Using the tools, organisations are able to create apps in a fraction of the time that they would normally need. If you could create an app in a couple of weeks, rather than months what scenarios could you use them for? 

• Because they are so quick and cheap to deploy and use, employees now have the ability to have access to information in a way that has never been possible before – who can you empower?

eBECS have put together the “FastApps” offer to help organisations make the most of PowerApps, Flow and Power BI in weeks not months. Please let us know if you would like to hear more about how we can help you empower your users today.