The Microsoft Power Platform is a toolbox covering a wide range of topics, from data analysis to workflow automation, custom application development, and the implementation of conversational agents.
A Low-code/No-code approach
Microsoft Power Platform is a suite of cloud services that enables, among other features, data analysis, task automation, and application development. This offering can be implemented without advanced programming skills, with a strong emphasis on a Low-code/No-code approach.
Microsoft Power Platform is capable of connecting to multiple data sources, both within and outside the company, and interacting with third-party services, including those offered by Microsoft: Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and more broadly all Microsoft services available on the Azure cloud.
This platform is composed of four main services, which can operate independently or be combined :
- Power Apps
- Power Automate
- Power BI
- Power Virtual Agents
Business Intelligence at your fingertips
In the next-generation BI solutions sector, Microsoft is considered a leader by Forrester, with the strongest strategy and one of the most comprehensive offerings on the market (The Forrester Wave: Augmented Business Intelligence Platforms, Q2 2023).
Microsoft’s business intelligence is accessible through the Power BI solution, a platform capable of collecting, visualizing, analyzing, and sharing data, with the ability to easily create advanced reports, dashboards, and even complete applications.
Microsoft is rapidly developing this platform to make it increasingly attractive. Whether it’s in terms of connectors, allowing access to multiple datasets, or functionalities, including the growing use of AI, such as through Power BI Copilot or Microsoft Fabric.
Data analysis has become strategic for businesses today. It is therefore no surprise that many projects related to the Microsoft Power Platform focus on the deployment of Power BI.
A process automation platform
Power Automate is a process automation platform that enables the creation of fully automated workflows, thereby reducing the number of repetitive manual tasks performed by company employees.
With Power Automate, for example, it will be possible to send a confirmation email to a customer after they have filled out a web form. Another example is the ability to create an event in Outlook that will trigger a complex dataflow on a recurring basis, such as having Power Automate send an automatically generated report from Power BI.
Like all components of the Microsoft Power Platform, Power Automate can leverage a vast array of connectors, allowing it to interact with services offered on the Microsoft Azure cloud as well as popular web services, including major social networks (Twitter, Facebook, etc.). It can also connect to most data sources and even allows for the creation of custom connectors through APIs.
This flexibility enables the development of complex applications, such as monitoring the cold chain through sensors that send their data to an SQL database, which Power Automate can then push to Power BI to create monitoring reports. All of this can be done while generating alerts sent via email in case of anomalies.
A gateway to new applications and technologies
Another notable component of the Microsoft Power Platform is Power Apps, a solution that allows for the creation of applications tailored to specific needs not covered by Power Automate or Power BI. It is a low-code offering that uses a simple drag-and-drop interface, making it easy to create applications that can be deployed on the web, mobile, or within Microsoft Teams.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning Power Virtual Agents, a tool for creating chatbots without the need to write any code. The conversational agents created can be integrated into a website or Microsoft Teams. Currently, Virtual Agents rely on predefined questions, but the gradual integration of AI, including ChatGPT, into the Microsoft solutions ecosystem suggests that it will soon be possible to perform more complex queries in natural language across the various tools of the Microsoft Power Platform.
Our expert
Martin BLAIS
SAP BI Consultant, TeamWork
