Is Microsoft Power Apps Right Choice for Your Organization?

Is Microsoft Power Apps Right Choice for Your Organization?

With the constantly changing Business Processes, Organizations need tools to quickly adapt to the changes and get the business rolling with highest priority. To tweak existing process or create new business processes – custom software development takes time and needs to go through different phases to get productionise.

So, Organizations needs robust tool to implement or tweak business process. In such cases – Low Code / No Code tools come into picture where Citizen Developers pitch in and get the ball rolling.

Now there are several platforms with Low code / No Code feature but then if it comes from Microsoft which has got plethora of products to take care. Power Platform contains Power BI for Business Analytics, Power Apps for Application development, Power Automate for processes automation and Power Virtual agent for Intelligent virtual agents.

Official research suggests that Microsoft Power Apps helps in:

  • 74% reduction in app development costs.
  • 188% return on investment generated over three years.
  • 2 hours/week of average improvement was observed in employee productivity.

But the real question you need to ask before implementing Microsoft Power Apps for your business is whether it is the most appropriate choice for you or not?

Let’s understand the difference between Traditional Development Approach vs. Development with Power Apps

Microsoft Power Apps Vs. Traditional Application Development

 

Microsoft PowerApps

Traditional Application Development
Application Development Expertise
Citizen developer can develop the application Pro developer needed to develop the application
Extensible platform for pro developers to interact with data and metadata, apply business logic, create custom connectors, and integrate with external data.
Development Methodology
Low Code and WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) approach allows MVP development right away. Phases will be different based on selected methodology – Waterfall or Agile methodology
Provides WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) experience. Even with most modern development approaches such as agile development, significant amount time can pass before an app can be demonstrated.
quickly create a first usable version of an app
Part of the Power Platform, is a suite of apps, services, connectors, and data platform that provides Rapid Development environment. Development Cost will be higher as it includes infrastructure, and resource costs.
Programming Knowledge
Simple development and apps, no need of any programming knowledge. Require specialized programming skills
For more elaborated needs, may need programming skills to create custom modules Sound knowledge of the programming language is required for development of an app.
Design Responsiveness
Apps built using Power Apps have a responsive design and can run seamlessly in browser and on mobile devices (phone or tablet) Need additional framework support and may need a separate app for mobile devices
Application Testing
Power Apps Test Studio is a low-code solution to write, organize, and automate tests for canvas apps Testing can be done manually or automated using different tools available, some of them require scripting.
Tools available for testing different components of Model driven app
User Interface and Experience
Limited but evolving day by day More control over UI/UX design and page design. You can design the interface as you need. User experience can also be designed with more flexibility
Done through a drag-and-drop interface. Lets you customize colours of text and fields, add media, forms, and screens etc.
Integration Capabilities
Many Out-Of-The-Box connectors ready to go on Power Apps which  Will require more effort to have integrations with other platforms. Third-party connectors may be needed as well.
range from Microsoft 365 platforms, the Google Workplace suite of apps, Atlassian (Jira, Trello), Twilio, Salesforce, and more
Application Maintenance
Extensive out-of-box capabilities lowers the cost of maintenance of the app Can be costly depending on type and complexity of the application. Need to care for the entire stack behind the application, not just the platform it is built upon.
AI Capabilities
AI Builder, an optional Add-on provides components that use prebuilt AI models and Need to put extra efforts to build AI capabilities
custom AI models that are built and trained by the developer
Feature Addition Post Deployment
built-in capabilities of the Power Platform makes it easier to add new features post deployment New feature addition requires more efforts for design and development.
Platform and Browser Compatibility
Create apps that run on Android, iOS, Windows, and almost any Internet browser without any added cost Need to prepare for each operating system and browser.
External Users
Limitations to share an app to external users due to licensing model and technical limitations Can be created or modified to share with external users
Customizations and Extensibility
Customizations using out-of-box capabilities can be easily done. Most of the development frameworks provide flexibility to interact with external contents.
Need custom logic with REST APIs to interact external contents More control and possibility of complex customizations.
Automated Tasks and Workflows
Gives notifications, collect data, and automate approval by Need to design and implement workflows.
native out-of-box integration with workflow engines
Reporting and Visualizations
Give data visualizations and insights with Power BI Reporting and visualization require planning, designing and development efforts.

When to Choose Power Apps

  • Having One App with Multiple Data Sources:

Through Microsoft’s Common Data Service (CDS), Power Apps can access business data from more than 200 different data sources like Outlook, Salesforce, SharePoint, Dynamics 365, Dropbox, Excel, SQL Databases, PowerPoint, Facebook, Twitter, OneDrive and so on. This helps employees to easily access and share data related to the business on the go, irrespective of where they are physically located.

  • Boost Staff Productivity:

Microsoft Power Apps allows businesses to develop and design apps for desktop as well as mobile for specific functions. This brings in the flexibility factor and employees can access them at any time anywhere as per their convenience.

  • Security & Compliance:

Microsoft Power Apps provides complete control to organizations through its admin centre. All the apps that are listed, their data policies, permissions and user control options can be monitored and managed easily. Organizations have full security and every app created in Power Apps, automatically links to Microsoft’s Active Directory Domain Service (ADDS), which authorizes, authenticates and implements security policies across all devices and users.

  • Complex Computations:

Microsoft Power Apps can also be used for logical complex computations. If there is a requirement for sound computation capabilities, it can be done so by using Azure Function or Logic Apps. Logic Apps has an Integration Service Environment that allows adjusting for the processing efficiency.

  • Access to Users Outside Organization:

Apps also need to be used by people who are not part of the organization. Microsoft Power Apps can be accessed by users outside of the organization so that can work on projects with various teams involved.

The Intellify Advantage

  • Microsoft Partnership

We have built a strong partnership with Microsoft over the years. All our team members hold multiple accreditations from Microsoft and all team members are certified Microsoft professionals.

  • 80% Client Retention

We believe in creating long-term engagements with the partners we work with and therefore, we follow a customer-centric approach that has enabled us to build and maintain relationships with our clients.

  • Customized Solutions

We understand that every business is different and there is no one-size-fits-all solution for various industries. Therefore, we design tailor-made solutions that help to accelerate your business growth.

  •  Industry-Specific Accelerators

We at Intellify have developed accelerators on multiple domains and industries to get ahead with your Power Apps. This helps in getting actionable insights and the app development starts quickly.

Power Apps is an ideal solution if your organization is looking to build apps that can connect to various data points and is easy to access and use across teams. This Microsoft solution can also come in handy for people who lack the technical know-how of developing apps. If you would like to learn more about Power Apps, click here to connect with our experts.