Integrating Microsoft Power Platform to Enhance Remote Work

Covid-19 has forced the world into working remotely, which has become a slight problem for businesses following the workplace model for years. One option that can give your IT team an edge is integrating with a Microsoft Power Platform to enhance and scale your remote work. 

As an IT manager or head of your company’s tech department, you will need to keep your team safe while guiding them to get the work done despite these challenging times. Therefore, deploying a Power Platform can prove a valuable asset for your organisation. 

What is Microsoft Power Platform 

Microsoft uses the term Power Platform when collectively referring to four of its products: Power BI, PowerApps, Power Virtual Agents and Power Automate. These products make manipulating, surfacing, automating, and analysing data very simple through Microsoft 365. Common Data Service, or CDS, is the underlying data handler that provides a unified data schema to allow your desired applications and services to operate harmoniously. 

In the current digital age, organisations have started relying on data extensively. Therefore, data is generated in large amounts to allow a greater degree of analysis in order to gain insights to discover opportunities. You can deploy Microsoft Power Platform to help you automate numerous tedious tasks to improve efficiency through existing staff members. 

Business automation and its benefits

Business Automation means using technological applications to perform repetitive tasks that free up employees for more valuable work. There are four types of business automation you can deploy using Microsoft Power Platform in various sectors for your organisation: 

1. Basic Automation
Automation of elementary tasks that require little to no coding to digitise repetitive tasks to accelerate the rate of transactions. 

2. Process Automation
Automation to manage business processes to ensure uniformity and transparency through dedicated software to increase productivity and efficiency. 

3. Advanced Automation
Automation combines humans and machines to integrate complex organisational systems to support complex processes through machine learning. 

4. Intelligent Automation
AI entirely drives automation. Machines will start learning from their environment and make decisions based on their analysis. 

If you’re thinking of deploying Power Platforms into your organisation’s operating framework, you will notice these benefits: 

• Power Apps can help you employ business logic to ensure that all required form fields are filled before sending the request. Your employees will be presented with the option to select from dropdown fields, optional choices, and free text. The type of request can determine the recipient of the form, which prevents it from getting lost or sent to the wrong person. 
• All three Power Platforms require authentication connected to your  Microsoft 365 to give you governance over your files. You can assign permissions to different designations in your organisation. Therefore, employees would only be able to act in their capacities. 
• You can follow the specific path to determine what went wrong in case of an error. Microsoft 365 records all actions that occur on the Power Platform. If any employee authorised something he wasn’t allowed to, the management could efficiently spend them correcting the issue instead of wasting time finding out what went wrong. 

Tips for transitioning into a remote workplace

If you decided to implement a remote workplace due to the pandemic, here are some tips that you can employ to ensure a smooth transition process by using Microsoft Power Platform: 

1. Sharing through the cloud
The first thing that comes while working remotely is managing a cloud sharing infrastructure so that your employees can quickly gain access to documents, data and other information crucial for their daily tasks. 

2. Collaborating through SharePoint
When it comes to collaboration, joining SharePoint with Microsoft Flow or PowerApps is the best way to get work done remotely. Organisations can share information immediately with employees to help them make team decisions that enhance productivity. 

3. Using Microsoft Teams for virtual communication
Microsoft Teams can give your employees an easy way to communicate and collaborate on projects. Since it is compatible with almost every device, you can have an online meeting or web conference whenever it’s required. 

4. Protecting sensitive information
Sharing business information does come with concerns for security and protection. The Power Platform has built-in security policies that prevent cybersecurity breaches. 

Conclusion 

While turning towards a remote workplace, there is no better option than Microsoft Power Platform. Your job as a leader is to ensure a smooth workflow for your employees, especially in these challenging times where conventional workplaces have started to become obsolete. 

Our team of expert Microsoft 365 Consultants can help you out in your transition to a remote workplace. From the starting checklist to implementation, we’ve got you covered.

Ken Mendiola

Marketing Operations professional with expertise in content marketing, growth strategy, and customer analytics. Writes about emerging technologies, AI, analytics, and marketing. Former contributor to HackerNoon, e27.co, TechinAsia, and TechWireAsia.