Microsoft Power Apps has taken the business world by storm. Empowering citizen developers, i.e., users that aren’t traditionally trained in app development, to create their own custom business applications has proven to be a VERY valuable addition to the work floor. It’s not really a question of why you should start with Power Apps, but rather a question of when. And honestly, the answer to that question is: now.
Nevertheless, in this blog post we will give you five reasons to start using Power Apps.
The addition of millennials and Gen-Z to your workforce.
Millennials (born in the period between 1980 – Mid 90’s) are known as the first generation that grew up in a digital world. They are used to being around technology and embrace it as a part of their everyday lives. Gen Z (born late 90’s – early 2010’s) takes this a step further. This generation hardly knew a time without a computer or a telephone screen. These additions to the workforce also mean a departure of generations that have traditionally been more careful/late adopters of technology.
For organizations this means that the workforce is now filled with early adopters and people who are willing to embrace the evolving nature of technology since they are already used to it from their personal lives. It’s up to the organizations to capitalize on this workforce’s potential by empowering them to enable change and development in the organization.
One last interesting note here is that the youngest generations, those that come after Gen Z, tend to be less used to the keyboard and mouse. While they are digitally savvy, most of their exposure to the digital world comes from using phones. Double clicking is a completely foreign concept for them. Food for thought!
The workplace anno 2023
If the past couple of years has learned us anything, it is that a de-centralized/hybrid model of working is the future. Giving employees the freedom to let them choose from where they work is important. It allows people to find a better work/life-balance, resulting in less stress and better health.
To enable this new way of working an organization has to consider three components: the HR-policy (Behaviour), the physical work environment (Bricks) and the IT-solutions (Bytes). In this case the bytes mean providing a cloud-based environment for your co-workers to collaborate from any location in a safe and regulated way. Power Apps is built on the Microsoft cloud and benefits from it’s world class security and compliance features.
A solid and fast digital transformation
Most businesses understand the need for a digital transformation and have started initiatives to let the business evolve. But what is often the case is a lack of structure, a lack of guidance, which results in an apparent lack of short-term advantages. Power Apps can help accelerate this process. When compared to traditional app development, where progress can takes months or even years, the low code/no code nature of Power Apps allows for rapid progress to be made when developing an app.
The advantages of digitizing and automating of business process are many. Reducing margin of error, streamlining business processes, reducing costs, faster response times to clients, and so on. Using the Power Apps platform will ensure you enjoy these advantages much faster than usual.
It’s all part of something larger
Microsoft’s Power Platform is an extensive integrated collection of applications and technologies that help increase the value of existing IT applications in an organization. Power Apps is an essential component in this platform, allowing users to custom build applications that suit the organization’s need and letting them connect with services they already know and use.
For example, with Power Apps citizen developers can create mobile endpoints for their Dynamics 365 services. It’s not limited to Microsoft services either, there are hundreds of free connectors and tons of premium connectors you can use to create your apps. Acrobat, Jira, Google Suite and Trello are all examples of services you can include in the creation of your applications. Find the complete list here (Overview of connectors for canvas apps - Power Apps | Microsoft Learn).
Qubix, your Power Platform partner
The journey into the world of low code/no code application development is only as good as the company one enjoys along the way. Qubix makes sure you don’t get lost along the way with years of expertise when it comes to everything in the Power Platform.
Organizations that have yet to take their first steps in the Power Platform are welcome to join our discovery workshops. In these sessions our consultants take a look at existing business processes and provide a list of use cases and quick wins that can be translated into Power Apps.
For organizations with clear ideas for scenarios Qubix can present a proof of concept to demonstrate the added value a Power App brings to the table. With initiatives such as the “App in a week”- challenge we are determined to show you that a week is more than enough to develop a business application that actually streamlines processes and saves time for you and your co-workers.
