What is Microsoft Power Platform? Benefits, Costs, Uses

Quick Answer: The Microsoft Power Platform is a group of tools that helps businesses understand data, create custom apps, and automate tasks. 

Whether you want to make apps without coding or make smarter choices using data, Microsoft Power Platform can help you do it. In this blog, we'll discuss the Microsoft Power Platform, its benefits, and how it can help businesses grow. 

We’ll also talk about Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, and Microsoft co-pilot Studio (Power Virtual Agents) to show how these tools help businesses run smoothly and get things done faster. 

Let’s see how these tools make work easier and more efficient!

What is the Microsoft Power Platform?

Microsoft's Power Platform is a group of tools that helps people understand data, create solutions, and automate tasks. It's user-friendly and works for both technical and non-technical users. 

It includes Power BI for data analytics, Power Apps for app development, Power Automate for workflow automation, and Power Virtual Agents for creating AI-powered chatbots. The platform enables businesses to streamline processes and enhance productivity through accessible, integrated solutions.

What is Microsoft Power Platform Used for

Microsoft Power Platform helps people build custom apps, automate tasks, understand data through charts, and create smart chatbots. It also makes businesses' work easier and faster.

Components of Power Platform

Let’s discuss the different components of the Power Platform. One important part is Power BI, which turns complex data into visuals that make decision-making easier.

Power BI

1. Data Visualization Capabilities

Power BI excels in transforming complex data into visually appealing and easy-to-understand formats. Key features include:

• Variety of Visualizations: Users can create a wide range of visualizations, such as line graphs, bar charts, pie charts, maps, and tables. This diversity helps present data insights effectively.

• Custom Visuals: In addition to standard visuals, Power BI helps you create custom visualizations tailored to specific organizational needs. Users can also access additional visuals through AppSource.

• Interactivity: Dashboards created in Power BI are interactive, allowing users to explore and filter data points. Changes in one visual can dynamically affect others on the dashboard.

• Real-time Data Access: Power BI supports real-time data connections, enabling users to visualize live data streams from various sources

2. Integration with Other Microsoft Tools

Power BI connects easily with other Microsoft tools, which makes it even more useful. You can bring data from Excel into Power BI to create charts and graphs that are easier to understand. 

Power BI reports can also be shared through SharePoint or Teams so everyone can see and discuss them. 

It also works with Power Apps and Power Automate, allowing you to create custom apps and automate tasks using the data from your reports. This helps make work faster and smoother for everyone in the organization.

Power Apps

Power Apps is a Microsoft tool that lets people create custom apps for their businesses, even if they know little about coding. It helps tech experts and regular users build apps quickly and easily.

1. Custom App Development

You don’t need to know much about coding. Power Apps lets you create apps by dragging and dropping things on the screen. This makes it easy for anyone, even if they aren't developers, to help build apps and solve problems.

Power Apps lets you make different kinds of apps:

• Canvas Apps: You can design apps by dragging and dropping things wherever you like. You get complete control over how the app looks.

• Model-Driven Apps: These apps are built using data and have a more organized structure, perfect for handling lots of information.

• Power Pages: This lets people outside your business, like customers or partners, quickly use your apps and connect with your data.

2. User-Friendly Interface

The platform's drag-and-drop interface makes app-building easy, even for non-developers. Using templates and pre-built components, users can quickly develop apps that work seamlessly across devices, whether on mobile phones or desktops.

Power Automate

Microsoft Power Automate is a cloud-based service that helps people save time by making their tasks happen automatically. 

It works with different apps and services to help businesses work faster by doing the same tasks over and over without people needing to do them manually. This makes it easier to get things done.

1. Workflow Automation

Power Automate allows users to create automated workflows, called "flows," for tasks like sending alerts or moving files.

• Trigger-Action Model: A specific event, such as receiving an email, can trigger a series of automated actions.

• Pre-Built Templates: Ready-made templates simplify automation setup, allowing users to get started quickly.

• Robotic Process Automation (RPA): This feature enables users to automate manual tasks by recording actions and turning them into workflows.

2. Streamlining Business Processes

Power Automate helps improve efficiency by automating workflows, allowing employees to focus on more important tasks. It also reduces human errors by taking over repetitive processes, ensuring consistency in operations across departments.

Microsoft Copilot Studio (Power Virtual Agents)

Microsoft Copilot Studio is a unique tool that helps people create their own AI helpers, called copilots, for use in Microsoft 365 apps.

Power Virtual Agents is part of this tool and lets businesses make chatbots without knowing how to code. These chatbots can answer customer questions quickly, helping companies provide better and faster service. Now that Power Virtual Agents is part of Microsoft Copilot Studio, it’s even easier to use. 

1. AI-Driven Chatbots

With Power Virtual Agents, users can build smart chatbots that can communicate naturally with customers:

• No-Code Development: Chatbots can be created without any programming knowledge.

• Natural Language Processing: The bots understand and respond to queries like humans would.

• Integration with Other Services: Chatbots can connect to other tools and services to complete tasks like looking up records or transferring to a live agent.

• Performance Monitoring: Track chatbot performance and optimize based on real-time data.

2. Enhancing Customer Service

Power Virtual Agents enhances customer service by providing 24/7 availability, answering routine questions, and offering personalized responses. 

This reduces customer wait times, enables agents to focus on complex queries, and helps businesses save costs by automating support.

Core Uses of Microsoft Power Platform

The Power Platform offers a unified set of tools that work together to enhance business productivity:

• Application Development with Power Apps: Easily build custom apps to streamline processes.

• Data Insights with Power BI: Create data-driven reports and visuals for better decision-making.

• Workflow Automation with Power Automate: Automate repetitive tasks and complex workflows across multiple apps and services.

• Customer Engagement with Power Virtual Agents: Use chatbots to automate customer support and improve service.

To learn more about using Microsoft Power Platform, check out our new course, Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant (PL-200), taught by John Munjoma. It will help you make the most of these tools! 

Microsoft Power Platform Benefits:

We've already covered quite a bit about the benefits of these tools, but let's review a few of the top benefits. 

• Easy to Use: Create apps, analyze data, and automate tasks without coding knowledge.

• Cost-Effective: Saves time and money by streamlining tasks and processes.

• Integration with Microsoft Tools: Works seamlessly with Excel, SharePoint, Teams, and more.

• Real-Time Data Access: Get up-to-date insights for faster decision-making.

• Customizable Solutions: Tailor apps and workflows to fit specific business needs.

• Automation of Repetitive Tasks: Reduces manual work, allowing employees to focus on more important tasks.

• Improved Collaboration: Share data and reports easily across teams for better communication.

How Much Does the Microsoft Power Platform Cost? 

The amount you'll pay for these tools varies by plan and the tools you'll use. 

Pricing models

There are two plans: Power BI and Microsoft Fabric. Power BI focuses on data visualization and reporting, while Microsoft Fabric offers a comprehensive data platform that integrates multiple tools, including Power BI, for more complex operations.

Power BI

Power BI offers a free account with limited usage (you can't share your reports), or you can pay $20 per user. For the Power BI embedded plan, which allows you to brand reports and automate things, you'll need to contact sales. 

Power Apps Pricing

There are two options: Power Apps Plans for creating custom apps with minimal coding and "Related Products and Add-ons" for enhancing app functionality with extra tools.

You can choose from a limited, free plan or $20 per user per month. For larger companies (2,000+ seats), you'll pay $12 per user. 

For related products and add-ons, like AI builder or database capacity increase, you'll pay a bit more. 

Power Automate Pricing

Power Automate offers two key options: "Power Automate Plans" for automating workflows across apps and services. 

"Related Products and Add-ons" provide additional tools to further enhance automation capabilities and improve integration with other platforms. Power Automate Plans cost between $15.00 per user and $215 per bot for enterprise-level bots. 

Related Products and Add-ons

Consideration of Subscription Plans

When picking a Microsoft Power Platform plan, consider your business needs. Some plans offer basic tools, while others offer more advanced features like extra storage or faster data updates.

Hidden Costs to Be Aware Of

Even though the subscription covers most things, you might need to pay extra for special connectors or more storage. Be sure to check for any extra costs so there are no surprises.

FAQs

Have more questions about Microsoft Power Platform? Here are quick answers to the top questions. 

What are the licensing options for Microsoft Power Platform?

Power Platform licenses include subscription plans for Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI. They are available per user, per app, or as add-ons like AI Builder and Dataverse and can be purchased through various Microsoft channels.

How does Power Platform integrate with other Microsoft services?

Power Platform integrates with services like Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365, and Azure. Users can connect data from Microsoft apps using standard or premium connectors, allowing seamless automation and app development across these platforms.

Can non-technical users build solutions on the Power Platform?

Yes, Power Platform is designed to be low-code/no-code, allowing non-technical users to build apps, automate processes, and analyze data using simple tools like Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI.

What are the security features of the Power Platform?

Power Platform provides strong security with features like data encryption, role-based access control, and compliance with industry standards. It uses Dataverse to store and manage data securely, with support for regulatory requirements like GDPR.

How can Power Platform be customized for specific industry needs?

Power Platform can be customized with industry-specific templates, connectors, and solutions. Users can build apps tailored to their business processes and extend existing Microsoft apps like Dynamics 365 to fit the unique needs of their industry.

Conclusion

The Microsoft Power Platform has amazing tools to help businesses work faster and more easily. You can build custom apps, automate tasks, and better understand data. 

Power BI helps you see real-time data; Power Apps lets you make apps without coding; Power Automate helps with tasks you do a lot; and Power Virtual Agents helps with customer service.

Want to learn more? You can become better with data in our Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst (PL-300) training or start with the basics in our Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Fundamentals (PL-900) course. Check them out at CBT Nuggets!