Microsoft Launches PowerApps and Flow

Microsoft has announced the general availability of Microsoft PowerApps and Microsoft Flow. Both services are available to users around the world and in 42 languages. PowerApps and Flow will be included with Dynamics 365.

These apps are designed to allow Power Users (i.e. non-developers) to do things that in the past would have required programming.

Microsoft PowerApps – Rapidly build web and mobile business applications without coding.

Microsoft Flow – Automate business processes through simple configuration.

PowerApps now also includes the common data service, a unifying backbone for your business data. The Common Data Service stores your key business data in a secure Microsoft Azure-hosted database, organizing it in a standardized but extensible form – customer, lead, opportunity, employee, invoice, inventory item, product, task, contact, calendar and so on. This standardization makes it easy to create new applications and workflows that derive value from your data. PowerApps, Flow and Power BI are natively aware of this common data model, making it that much easier.

In addition to their standalone value, PowerApps and Flow work together with Microsoft Office 365 and Dynamics 365 through a large and growing family of built-in connectors with hundreds of other popular business applications and database systems. You can even connect to applications and data residing at your own facilities through the on-premise data gateway. Through these integrations, users can easily build applications and orchestrate workflows spanning business processes and joining data previously locked up in silos.

I am excited to see how these tools will be leveraged to enhance user experiences across the Dynamics 365 platform, and also interested to see how these tools in combination with Dynamics 365 will impact user adoption. I expect this to be an area where Microsoft and partners like us will be able to make an impact and distance ourselves from the competition.

Beringer is always here to provide expert knowledge in topics like these. If you would like to see PowerApps or Flow in action, contact us!