Businesses – especially small businesses – are getting busier and more fast-paced. Employees are juggling multiple responsibilities, and it can be hard to keep up to date with tasks. Everyone is aiming to save time, reduce human error, and increase productivity. One tool that can help is Power Automate, part of Microsoft’s Power Platform.
Power Automate is cloud-based and is designed to streamline processes by automating routine tasks. You don’t need to be an IT whizz, it’s user-friendly and accessible for all. So, whether you’re aiming to automate mundane data entry tasks or build complex approval workflows, Power Automate can help you create flows that move information between apps or services.
Reasons to use Power Automate
Productivity
Manual, repetitive tasks take up hours of each working week. Power Automate reduces, or even eliminates, this burden by automating processes so teams can focus on more strategic work that has a greater impact on the business.
Cost efficiency
By reducing the time spent on manual tasks, efficiency is improved and labour costs could be reduced. There would also be less chance for human-error thanks to the automation, so there’s potential savings due to any mistakes.
Ease of use
Power Automate is no-code/low-code, meaning it’s built with both IT professionals and novices in mind. It has a drag and drop interface, so it’s easy to create automations without complex coding.
Integration
As part of the Microsoft stack, Power Automate integrates with a wide range of business tools – both Microsoft and non-Microsoft applications. Companies can unify their workflows across various software platforms, keeping them all in one place.
Scalability
Companies of varying sizes can benefit from Power Automate – from the smallest to the largest. As you grow, it can automate more processes to keep up with innovation.
Examples of what you can do with Power Automate
- Automating approval processes
- Email automation
- Data syncing and reporting
- Automated notifications
- Social media and marketing automation
- Task management
What can Power Automate integrate with?
Microsoft 365 Apps
As a Microsoft app, Power Automate is made to work with other Microsoft apps. It’s part of the Power Platform family – Power BI, Power Apps, Power Pages, and Power Automate – so it works hand it hand with these other no-code/low-code apps. But it also works with the Microsoft 365 group of apps like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, etc, which are all commonly used within businesses.
CRM Systems
Power Automate also works with Microsoft’s Dynamics 365, a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. This isn’t the only CRM it integrated with, as Salesforce, SAP and HubSpot also have integrations with Power Automate despite not being part of the Microsoft offering.
Project Management Tools
Project Management tools like Trello, Asana, and Planner can integrate with Power Automate, so you can automatically add and update your planning tools.
Communication Platforms
Automate team notifications through Microsoft Teams and Trello to keep everyone in the loop or give a colleague a nudge. Power Automate also integrates through social media channels like Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Other integration opportunities include:
- Database tools (SQL Server, Azure SQL, Oracle, Google Sheets)
- Marketing tools (Mailchimp, Constant Contact)
- E-Commerce (Shopify, WooCommerce, PayPal)
So, take a look at Power Automate from your Microsoft 365 account and try it for yourself! You’ll never know just how much time you could save unless you give it a go.
