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How to use Microsoft Power Automate (formerly Microsoft Flow)

December 2022
How to use Microsoft Power Automate (formerly Microsoft Flow)

If you have ever used Microsoft Flow, you know the power and convenience it brings to your workflow. But now, with Microsoft's new product - Power Automate - you can take your automated workflow to the next level. Power Automate is an incredibly powerful tool that allows users to automate workflows and connect them with other applications they use daily.  

In this blog article, we will go through Microsoft Power Automate in detail (earlier known as Microsoft Flow). We will learn about the software's components, try to construct business process flows, and go through various elements of automating business processes.

What is Power Automate (formerly Microsoft Flow)?

Power Automate is a cloud-based platform from Microsoft that enables users to create automated workflows and connect them with their applications. It allows for easy integration of applications such as Outlook, Excel, SharePoint, Dynamics 365, OneDrive, Teams, Planner, and more. This means that users can easily create automated processes for tasks such as sending emails, creating documents in Word or Excel, creating tasks in Planner, or creating events in Teams. By connecting these processes with the user’s application stack, they can reduce manual work while increasing efficiency.

How does Power Automate work?

Power Automate is designed to cut down on manual processes by automating workflows between applications so that users do not have to do them manually. It also makes it easy for users to access data from multiple sources and combine it into one place—a dashboard—for better insights and decision-making. In addition, with its AI capabilities, users can easily set up alerts based on certain conditions or triggers, so they never miss valuable information or deadlines again.  

Microsoft also offers connectors that allow users to integrate third-party services like Slack or Twitter with their existing workflow setup to extend the functionality of their automation system even further. Finally, with its automation templates, users can quickly get started without having to build everything from scratch themselves—saving precious time in the process!  

Power Automate Examples  

Power Automate is used in many different industries for various tasks and processes. Here are some examples of how businesses use the service:  

  • Sending automatic notifications when an order is placed or shipped  
  • Automatically creating customer profiles based on data submitted through forms  
  • Updating customer records in a database after they submit feedback  
  • Getting notified when someone comments on social media posts  
  • Creating reminders for upcoming events or tasks
  • Business operations can be automated with Microsoft Power Automate and rule-based workflows made using Power Apps
  • You can automate all mailroom processes such as sending emails, storing email attachments, organizing emails, and processing email contents

These are just some examples of the many ways that Power Automate can be used in your business. With its flexibility and scalability, there is no limit to how much time and effort you can save with this powerful automation tool.

Power Automate pricing

The pricing structure for Microsoft Power Automate depends on the type of plan you choose—Free, Premium, or Business plans—as well as the number of runs your automation will need each month (up to 2 million runs per month). Additionally, you have access to the Service Level Agreement (SLA) provided by Microsoft if you opt for one of their paid plans. This provides you with more reliable uptime than the Free plan does. Most people with an Office 365 subscription can get started with Power Automate for free without having to pay the $15/month licensing fee. If you choose to have a subscription with Microsoft Power Automate, here is a table with the available options:

Power Automate pricing 2023

Conclusion on Power Automate tool

Overall, Microsoft Power Automate is an incredibly powerful tool for businesses that want to increase their efficiency by automating tedious tasks and connecting different applications together into one integrated system. For those looking for an easier way to automate their workflows without getting bogged down in coding or complex setup processes - Power Automate is worth exploring! With its built-in templates and analytics capabilities combined with its ability to integrate with popular applications like Outlook and OneDrive - this product offers users an effective way to streamline their processes while cutting down on manual labor costs at the same time! If you are interested in other Microsoft tools, check out our blog post about Microsoft Power BI (Business Intelligence)!

We can all agree that Microsoft Power Automate is a great tool and user-friendly, but there is much more to it. Feel free to talk with our experts and get the best automation service today!

How to use Microsoft Power Automate (formerly Microsoft Flow)

How to use Microsoft Power Automate (formerly Microsoft Flow)

Cloud Integration, iPaaS, SaaS, BPA… Ough, hard to keep track of all these terms. They are currently used frequently (and increasingly) in the context of automation, and it is sometimes difficult to make a clear distinction and distinction. We have already written blog posts on the terms iPaaS, SaaS and BPA, but we’ll take them up again here to make the difference.

But let’s start with cloud integration, because that’s the central umbrella term in which we embed all the other technologies in this blog post.

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What does Cloud Integration mean?

What does Cloud Integration mean?

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  • Is available in real time
  • Can be accessed from almost anywhere
  • Reduce potential sources of error by entering the same data multiple times
  • Require less installation and maintenance
  • Can optimize business processes

Arrange a free cloud integration consultation now

To illustrate these advantages, an example is suitable that we know well from our everyday work as an automation agency:

The central data to be used here is the data of a major customer. This can be the simplest information, such as the address. This address is required in numerous but completely different processes in the company: on the one hand, for correct invoicing in accounting. On the other hand, in the CRM system, where all the data of the large customer is also stored. But the address is also important in sales, for example, when employees go to the sales meeting on site.

Now the customer announces that the address of the company has changed after a move. This information will reach you by e-mail. There are now two options:

01. The e-mail is forwarded to all affected departments, accounting, sales, customer service, marketing… All persons open their corresponding program, CRM, accounting software, marketing tools (such as newsletter marketing) and change the data already stored there of the customer. This means that in multiple applications, different people do exactly the same thing: change one address.

02. But there is also an alternative: By connecting your applications, thus by integrizing them, the customer’s e-mail, or rather the information it contains about the address change, is automatically passed on to all affected applications: CRM, accounting, marketing, ERP. This does not require any clicks, because the cloud integration detects a trigger, i.e. address change, and thus automatically starts the process.

What sounds unimpressive in a single process becomes more effective when such a process occurs several times a day or weekly. Because there is a lot of data that is available in different applications and should always be correct. If these applications are cloud applications they are suitable for cloud integration.

But cloud integration doesn’t just happen. There are now a variety of applications that enable and implement this. Such tools usually allow us to link the relevant cloud applications on a central platform and define clear rules on when, how, where, how much data should be passed on and what happens to them.

IPaaS, SaaS, BPA, ABC – who can still see through it?

To realize cloud integration, there are various applications and technologies that are sometimes used interchangeably.

We have made a first distinction between iPaaS and BPA here.

We explain the term SaaS in more detail here.

Here the short version, again:
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Cloud integration cannot be done without SaaS, iPaaS and BPA

Cloud integration is rather an umbrella term that includes numerous technologies, such as SaaS, iPaaS and BPA, and this is also absolutely necessary. Cloud integration is a concept that is made possible by appropriate technologies.

However, all terms share the commonality that they are cloud-based and thus offer enormous potential for growth and scaling. In addition, they are often cheaper to implement and maintain because changed requirements are easy to implement.

As an independent automation agency, we implement cloud integration according to your requirements. We use a variety of SaaS tools and iPaas (strictly speaking BPA) software. Together we find individual solutions that are flexible and scalable.

Arrange a free cloud integration consultation now

Automation consulting. Automate. Improve. Succeed.

We advise you independently and offer our expertise.
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Automation consulting. Automate. Improve. Succeed.

We advise you independently and offer our expertise.