This article will take a closer look at how Microsoft Power Automate can be used to help your organization more effectively manage tasks and projects.
What is Power Automate?
Power Automate is a Microsoft application that was designed for managing projects and tasks. Previously known as Flow, Power Automate provides cloud-based tools that aid organizations with automating repetitive processes and tasks, as well as creating optimal workflows. Power Automate can seamlessly connect to data sources such as Office 365 and Dynamics 365. In addition, this application can also be used to automatically save email attachments to OneDrive or establish a template flow to provide fast responses to social media posts.
Who Uses Power Automate?
One of the main benefits of Power Automate is that you don’t have to have a background in IT to work with this app. Most users learn the features after just a brief training session. For this reason, Power Automate has applications in a wide range of sectors. Banks benefit from its ability to customize general reports, and those who work in the manufacturing sector rely on its innovative solutions to help them remain competitive in the market. In addition, insurance companies use Power Automate to rationalize employee training so that their agents can perform daily tasks more efficiently. Even health services are able to cut down on administrative delays with the help of this app.
Main Features of Power Automate
Power Automate comes with an array of tools that will save you time and hassle by streamlining and automating tasks in large projects. Here are just a few of this app’s most impressive features:
- With the help of flows, Power Automate users can create automated processes that are triggered by events. These drag-and-drop, low-code tools, along with hundreds of pre-built connectors, provide a way to easily automate mundane or repetitive tasks.
- Process Advisor can visualize and record the end-to-end work process. It offers guided recommendations that help users design flows, as well as provides valuable insights into what should be automated to best facilitate workflow.
- AI Builder further aids with automation endeavors. With the help of document automation technology, forms and approvals can be processed quickly, prebuilt models can be used, and images and text can be detected.
- Because this application is cloud-based, data loss is not a worry.
- Power Automate comes with a Dynamic Content expression editor.
- This app provides a trigger-based search, as well as options for access and identity management.
- Instead of having to fish through all of the emails you receive each day to prioritize the most pressing correspondences, Power Automate can save you valuable time by alerting you with a message when a high-priority email comes in.
- The Visual Editor that’s included with this app makes it easier for users to design automated models.
A Few Reasons to use Power Automate
Power Automate is a popular tool across industries. Companies such as Coca-Cola, T-Mobile, and Capitol Records use this application to help automate various processes. The following are several reasons Power Automate is relied on by organizations around the globe:
- It helps with employee satisfaction. Completing repetitive tasks can be draining for employees, and can take up a good portion of their work time. Thanks to Power Automate’s automation capabilities, employees can instead devote their time to more pressing tasks, which helps to increase job satisfaction and reduce employee turnover.
- It cuts down on human error. Automation cuts down on the occurrence of human error, which leads to better work outcomes.
- It helps with decision-making. Another benefit of incorporating automated capabilities into the work environment is that it drastically cuts down on the strain of decision-making. By automating processes like time-off requests, approval workflows, or sales opportunities, only important decisions will need to occupy your work focus and time.
- Little to no knowledge is necessary to develop apps. Administrators can use drag-and-drop tools to create applications for automating business processes and workflows without having a background in coding.
- It’s accessible from anywhere. The Power Automate mobile app provides a platform for team members to make, run, and monitor automated workflows directly from their mobile devices.
- It enables real-time process monitoring. Those working with Power Automate have real-time access to the progress of various business processes. This ensures that tasks are being completed on time and employee performance is up to par.
- It can move data from one system to another using a schedule. Power Automate can use a schedule to move business data between systems. It also provides an overview of flow using charts so that a complete overview of how a project is progressing is available at all times.
- It connects to a variety of APIs and public data sources. Power Automate leverages nearly 300 data sources, as well as all public-use programming interfaces.
Automating Across Business Systems
One of the best Power Automate features is this application’s ability to connect, as well as automate, tasks across hundreds of apps. It’s able to connect with both Microsoft applications, as well as external sources. Here are just some of the most popular Power Automate connectors:
- Trello
- FreshBooks
- Eventbrite
- Google Drive
- DocuSign
- Adobe Sign
- Asana
- Teams
- Planner
- Outlook
- Word
- Power BI
- SharePoint
Because of its cross-platform connection options, its workflow management capabilities, and its various options for task automation, Microsoft Power Automate remains a useful tool across all professional sectors for project and operational management.
Start Learning Microsoft Office with Hands-on Classes
Proficiency in Microsoft Office can open professional doors across industries, as well as lead to upward career mobility. A great way to begin learning about Microsoft Office is to sign up for one of Noble Desktop’s Microsoft Office courses. These small group classes are offered in-person in Manhattan, as well as in the live online format. For students and professionals on the go, there are also in-person and live online Microsoft Office courses available through Noble Desktop or one of its affiliate schools. A variety of course options are offered, ranging in duration from three hours to three days and costing between $229 and $1,785.
You can also browse in-person Microsoft Office classes to find learning options in a city near you.