Microsoft Power Automate
Process automation in the cloud with Microsoft Power Automate: Applications and benefits
Process automation in the cloud with Microsoft Power Automate: Applications and benefits
With Microsoft Power Automate, you can create cross-application workflows and tasks to automate work processes without additional developers. We explain all the possibilities and advantages of the automation software for the cloud in this article.
Automate processes with Microsoft Power Automate
Microsoft Power Automate is a suite of different tools to comprehensively cover different process automation requirements within a company – from simple standard processes to complex cross-departmental workflows.
Digital Process Automation (DPA) is at the heart of Microsoft Power Automate. The tool provides both templates and interfaces to hundreds of common business applications in order to link them together and automate the process.
While digital process automation allows processes to be automated at one level, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) goes one step further. By using AI technologies, RPA (Robotic Process Automation) allows processes to be automated on several levels, from the company to the end customer.
The Process Advisor helps you to better understand internal processes. The Process Advisor offers process mining tools with which you can identify and visualize the processes that actually take place within the organization. Desktop actions of users can also be mapped with the Process Advisor tool.
With Microsoft Power Automate, you can also implement Intelligent Process Automation (IPA) applications. For this purpose, Microsoft provides a powerful tool in the form of the AI Builder, which uses a graphical interface to enable even non-developers to create intelligent programs that can understand and/or generate texts, recognize objects in images and evaluate data. The machine learning technology used thus creates the basis for automation routines that get better and better by themselves with increasing use.
Microsoft Power Automate: All advantages at a glance
As one of the largest IT companies in the world, Microsoft is now a leading player in the field of business software. With Power Automate, the company offers its customers a range of benefits in the implementation of digitalization in their own company:
Efficiency in standard tasks
Standard tasks require standard solutions. With process automation based on Microsoft Power Automate, many standard tasks can be easily automated.
Standardized processes
Different ways of working in different departments lead to problems with communication and data exchange. By automating recurring processes, you create a uniform structure across departments that opens up scope for subsequent optimization.
Cloud-based infrastructure
Because Microsoft Power Automate runs in the cloud, no maintenance in the company and no additional infrastructure is required.
Fewer errors
Many processes are prone to errors if they are carried out by humans. Machines – when programmed correctly – do not make mistakes.
Intuitive operation
Microsoft Power Automate has a graphical user interface throughout, which can be used to access all of the suite’s functions. Additional developers – or their own knowledge – are not required. Instead, the software operates largely like normal business software that employees are already familiar with from their day-to-day work.
Templates for a quick start
Creating a workflow with Microsoft Power Automate typically starts with choosing from one of the many templates that the cloud software makes available to users. Templates contain the structure of a process, which you can then adapt to the specific process in the company. This means that even inexperienced employees can immediately gain their first positive experiences and get to know the added value of process automation for themselves.
More employee satisfaction
Knowledge workers spend a significant proportion of their working time working on standard tasks that are neither particularly challenging nor fulfilling. Automation with the help of digital and robotic process automation can remove some of this workload and thus contribute to happier employees in the future.
More satisfied customers
Customers can also benefit from process automation – for example through shorter processing times in customer service or better support in sales.
Areas of application of Microsoft Power Automate
The possibilities for using Microsoft’s process automation solution are only limited by the organization’s infrastructure and resources. Which use cases offer a positive return on investment also depends on the individual company. Four common use cases for process automation with Microsoft Power Automate are listed below:
In many companies’ customer service departments, initial contact with customers takes up a lot of resources – especially if there is no standardized procedure for making contact. With Microsoft Power Automate, for example, companies can develop a chatbot that recognizes customer inquiries, processes them where possible or forwards them to the relevant customer advisor.
Tasks sometimes get lost in the stressful situations of everyday work. To ensure that employees don’t forget important tasks, you can use Microsoft Power Automate and a simple template to create an automatic reminder that is sent to your Outlook email account every day. Thanks to numerous existing interfaces, such automations are also possible with mail accounts from other providers.
Incoming and outgoing invoices need to be processed by the accounting department as well as prepared for legally required archiving. With a template in Microsoft Power Automate, you can set up an automatic routine with just a few clicks that checks incoming email attachments for the keyword “invoice” and then automatically moves the files to a specific location or sends them to the person responsible.
Microsoft Power Automate can also be used to implement complex workflows – for example, when customer input is involved in the process. With the tools for robot-supported process automation, users can digitally map every step of the process within the tool and thus automate it. Beforehand, they use the integrated process mining tool to get an accurate picture of the process and its actual sequence in the company.
Conclusion: Process automation with Microsoft Power Automate - for whom is it worthwhile?
With Power Automate, Microsoft offers small, medium-sized and large organizations a powerful toolbox for getting started with process automation. With a comprehensive tool set, the suite covers both linear processes and complex end-to-end processes. The entire functionality is integrated into an intuitive interface, which makes it possible for IT laymen to get started. Without having to master a programming language, employees learn how to automate processes with the tools and thus improve their day-to-day work.
Microsoft Power Automate is therefore worthwhile for all those companies that want to delve deeper into process automation but previously lacked the resources or infrastructure. Thanks to Microsoft’s cloud-based solution, even small companies will be able to automate entire workflows and network internal systems in the future.
