Microsoft has reported a current tally of 145 million daily active users on Microsoft Teams, illustrating the role of Teams as the heart of most organisations' daily operations. This number of users saw significant increase with the recent rise in remote working, highlighting the importance of teamwork-focused tools in supporting and facilitating flexible work styles and locations. So, if Teams is the heart of daily operations, then it becomes vital for users to be able to access their powerful business tools from within this central hub and that's exactly what Microsoft are now offering businesses the opportunity to do
With a focus on increasing productivity, many businesses are turning to the Microsoft Power Platform (consisting of Power Automate, Power BI, Power Apps, and Power Virtual Agents). These tools allow departments to own their process improvement from mapping and tracking, through to automation and data analytics. The prevalence and power of these tools is reflected in Microsoft’s reporting that 97% of Fortune 500 companies use the Power Platform in some capacity. So, if these low-code tools are taking the business world by storm, then integrating these tools with the capabilities and centrality of Microsoft Teams could truly transform the way businesses think about working. The low-code revolution With the rise of low-code tools, such as Microsoft Power Platform, in which users can utilise highly visual, drag-and-drop interfaces to build automation workflows, apps, and bots, modern businesses are having to reimagine their approaches to operational improvement. Whereas before automation would solely be the responsibility of the IT team, with some guidance from the relevant department, now we are seeing the rise of citizen developers and what Microsoft refer to as ‘Fusion teams’. Fusion teams unite business users and operational experts with IT specialists, allowing those with less technical expertise to utilise low-code tools to build within the Power Platform (or even simply customise an existing Power Platform template for their local needs) and this can then be extended by professional coders. This allows low-code and procode to exist in harmony, breaking down division between departments and supporting individuals in allocating their time and expertise where it is most appropriate or beneficial. Power Platform and Teams = better together With Microsoft’s strong integration capabilities, users can harness the capabilities of the Power Platform directly within Teams. Having the ability to access the Power Platform from within Teams keeps operations and the communication surrounding them centralised and easy to follow. Additionally, the inclusion of both of these powerful tools within the Microsoft suite offers the assurance of Azure’s secure governance capabilities and the simplicity of one singular Office license cost. The simplicity, security, and affordability of the Power Platform makes it a widely appealing tool for SMEs and could transform the way that many North East businesses are approaching both their operations and project teams.