Low-Code with the Microsoft Power Platform

Digitalisation is a driver of innovation that increases companies’ individual performance. Modern low-code platforms are a popular driver of rapid digitalisation. These platforms present a straightforward visual development approach for users of all experience levels to be able to create modern web and mobile applications via simple user interfaces. The term ‘low-code’ in the application section describes the use of few to no lines of code – comparable to productivity tools such as OpenOffice Calc or Microsoft Excel.

This is a relief for non-technical developers because they do not have to learn complicated code; while for professional developers, complicated installation routines are abstracted. Developing and launching business-critical applications takes place in a fraction of the time it takes for traditional software development processes.

Five reasons to introduce a low-code platform:

• It drives digitalisation forward by replacing manual processes
• It modernises your individual product and service innovations
• You save costs when developing applications
• Specialist departments are involved, and application development is accelerated
• It supports agile working

The Microsoft Power Platform at a glance

With more than three million monthly active users and a growth of 700 per cent in business-critical applications compared to the previous year, the Power Platform has great potential and, at the same time, is the market leader in the area of low-code application platforms, as studies by Gartner and Forrester show.

The Power Platform is an advantageous choice for users thanks to its networked community of over 1.5 million active members, which is continuing to grow. This large community helps users find solutions to their problems quickly and generate ideas for further projects. The sought-after approach for increasing productivity quickly, efficiently and easily, without setting up complex and long-standing software projects, is to recognise growing interests.

The products Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate and Power Virtual Agents form the Power Platform. Power BI is leading the way in business data analytics. It collects data from a variety of sources and creates comprehensive, interactive visualisations and reports. Power Apps is available as an app development tool and speeds up development time from months to a few hours. The 400 standard connections to external data sources, which can be seamlessly integrated with the created application, are a particular highlight. Power Automate offers powerful process automation that enables codeless communication with any app or service. Power Virtual Agents allow users to effortlessly create chatbots that provide services and answer questions from internal users and external customers in a way that sounds natural.

In addition to these four products, the following overarching functionalities are worth highlighting:

• Data connectors that import data from a variety of pre-configured connections into the various Power Platform products.
• The AI Builder, which allows all users to support apps and business processes with AI
• Robotic process automation (RPA) for automating applications and process flows