From automating repetitive tasks to building custom apps and creating insightful dashboards, Power Platform has endless potential to optimise your business processes. However, these features often go unnoticed, leaving businesses paying for licences that end up completely underutilised. In this blog, we’ll uncover the hidden value of Power Platform, explore practical applications for your business, and show how maximising your Microsoft 365 subscription can lead to significant cost savings.
Understanding Power Platform and its Core Components
Microsoft’s Power Platform is a powerful suite of tools designed to help businesses streamline processes, improve decision-making, and automate workflows—all while integrating seamlessly with the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Despite being included in many common licence tiers, its offerings are often overlooked.
Here’s a quick overview of what each component offers:
- Power BI: A data visualisation and analytics tool that turns complex data into actionable insights with interactive dashboards.
- Power Automate: A workflow automation tool that eliminates repetitive tasks by connecting apps and services.
- Power Apps: A platform to create custom business applications without requiring extensive coding skills.
- Power Pages: A low-code tool for creating secure, data-driven websites that integrate seamlessly with your business data.
- Copilot Studio: A cutting-edge AI assistant enabling users to build workflows, generate content, and create chatbots intuitively.
These tools are designed to work together, offering businesses an all-in-one solution for enhanced productivity and efficiency—often at no additional cost when included in your Microsoft 365 subscription.
Hidden Features Within Existing Licence Tiers
Many businesses fail to realise just how much they’re getting as part of their Microsoft 365 subscriptions. The tools within the Power Platform are often overlooked despite their powerful capabilities, as well as their availability in common licence tiers like Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Enterprise plans.
Some hidden gems you may already have access to:
- Workflow Automation Templates: Pre-built templates in Power Automate allow you to quickly set up workflows for tasks like employee onboarding, document approvals, or social media posting, reducing setup time and effort.
- Custom Data Visualisation: Power BI’s integration with Excel enables you to turn spreadsheets into interactive dashboards, offering deeper insights without needing an external analytics platform.
- AI-Driven Insights: AI is becoming a more widely-used tool, with 15% of UK businesses using at least one AI technology. Built-in AI tools can identify patterns in your data, like predicting sales trends or spotting operational bottlenecks, to guide decision-making.
- Secure Data Forms: Power Apps lets you create user-friendly data collection forms, perfect for surveys, customer feedback, or internal reporting, without writing a single line of code.
- Low-Code Website Design: Power Pages provides a simple way to create secure, data-driven websites, ideal for customer portals or event registration pages.
These features, often hiding in plain sight, can transform how you operate. By tapping into them, you can unlock efficiencies, reduce reliance on third-party software, and make the most of your Microsoft 365 subscription.
Cut Costs on Third-Party Software
The main convenience of Microsoft 365 is that it puts everything together in one subscription. For many businesses, the allure of specialised third-party software leads to significant subscription expenses spread across multiple services. However, Microsoft 365’s Power Platform often provides the same functionality—if not more—without the added cost of external tools. By maximising the tools already included in your Microsoft 365 licence, you can consolidate your software stack and realise substantial cost savings by over 60% per user compared to a collection of separate point solutions.
Here’s how Power Platform can replace common third-party tools:
- Workflow Automation: Replace tools like Zapier or Asana with Power Automate for automating repetitive tasks and managing workflows.
- Data Visualisation: Avoid the high costs of standalone analytics platforms like Tableau by using Power BI for dynamic dashboards and actionable insights.
- Custom Applications: Save on custom development fees by using Power Apps to create business-specific applications for inventory tracking, customer support, or project management.
- Website Building: Skip separate website design tools for internal or customer-facing portals by utilising Power Pages.
By consolidating your operations within the Microsoft ecosystem, your business can streamline processes, reduce complexity, and significantly lower software expenses. This approach not only cuts costs but also ensures seamless integration between your tools, boosting overall efficiency.
Practical Applications for UK Business Processes
The Power Platform is versatile enough to address a wide range of challenges across industries, offering practical solutions tailored to specific business needs. For UK businesses, this can mean simplifying workflows, enhancing customer experiences, and improving operational efficiency—all using tools included in Microsoft 365.
Here are some practical applications for Power Platform in common UK business processes:
- Streamlining HR Processes: Use Power Automate to handle employee onboarding workflows, such as document submissions and welcome emails, ensuring new hires are set up quickly and efficiently.
- Enhancing Customer Experiences: Create custom portals with Power Pages for tasks like appointment scheduling or self-service support, offering convenience to customers while reducing manual workload for staff.
- Simplifying Financial Management: Automate invoice approvals or expense reporting with Power Automate, minimising delays and manual errors in accounting.
- Optimising Sales Operations: Power BI can track sales performance and forecast trends, helping sales teams prioritise opportunities and improve results.
- Improving Project Management: Power Apps can be used to develop custom apps for tracking project timelines, budgets, and milestones, ensuring better coordination across teams.
Get Your Money’s Worth with Outbound™ Group
Microsoft 365 is more than a set of productivity tools—it’s a powerhouse of features designed to transform the way your business operates. With the Power Platform, many of these advanced capabilities are already included in your licence, waiting to be discovered.
Outbound Group can help you truly harness the potential of Microsoft 365. It’s crucial to understand what’s included in your subscription and how to leverage it effectively. If you’re ready to explore how it can revolutionise your operations, contact us today. Our experts are here to guide you through maximising your Microsoft 365 investment and driving meaningful results for your business.
