Have you ever wondered what Power Automate process automation can do for you? Picture this: You’re sipping your morning coffee, and your inbox isn’t overflowing with approval requests. Your team’s data is magically in sync across all platforms. And those pesky repetitive tasks? They’re handling themselves. Sounds like a dream, right?
Well, at Propelle, we’re in the business of making dreams come true. (Okay, maybe not all dreams, but definitely the ones involving smoother business processes!) And we just love helping businesses with Power Automate process automation.
Let’s face it, many organisations are stuck in a quagmire of manual processes. It’s like trying to navigate a maze blindfolded while juggling flaming torches. Not fun, and definitely not efficient.
But here’s the kicker: Enter Microsoft Power Automate part of the Power Platform – your ticket to reclaiming those precious productive hours. It’s like having a personal assistant who never sleeps, never complains, and always gets the job done. Intrigued? You should be!
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of business process automation, let’s talk about why we need it in the first place.
Picture Sarah from accounting manually entering data from invoices into the system. Or Tom from sales, painstakingly copying and pasting customer information from emails into the CRM or other cloud applications. These tasks aren’t just mind-numbing; they’re costing your business big time. Gartner talks about the benefit of the low-code platforms here. How big? Well, according to a study by IDC, companies lose 20-30% of revenue each year due to inefficiencies. That’s not chump change, folks!
The challenge is identifying which processes are ripe for automation. It’s like finding the low-hanging fruit in an orchard of inefficiency. But don’t worry, that’s where we come in!
So, what exactly is Power Automate? Think of it as the Swiss Army knife of the Microsoft 365 Power Platform ecosystem. It’s a tool that allows you to create automated workflows across multiple applications and services, both within Microsoft 365 and to external applications. In other words, it’s the secret sauce that makes your digital process automation run smoother than a freshly waxed slide.
And the best part? It plays nice with other M365 tools like SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive, Power Apps and many of your other cloud-based services too, at least the popular services. It’s like they’re all part of one big, happy, productive family. Don’t just take our word for it, though. One of our clients, an insurance company, saw their client executives turnaround time cut in half after implementing Power Automate as an automation tool to generate renewal quotes. Now that’s what we call a success story!
Remember the days of chasing down managers for approvals of routine tasks? With Power Automate process automation, those days are over.
Setting up an approval workflows is easier than making instant noodles. You define the process, set the approvers, and voila! The approvals will start flowing.
The impact? Faster decisions, less email clutter, and managers who actually have time to, you know, manage.
Remember Tom from sales? With Power Automate, he can say goodbye to manual data entry. By connecting your CRM with your project management tool the data flows seamlessly between systems.
The result? Time saved, errors reduced, and Tom actually getting to do what he does best – selling!
Creating proposals used to be about as fun as watching paint dry. But with Power Automate, you can set up templates and automate document creation.
Imagine: A new lead comes in, and bam! A personalised proposal is generated faster than you can say “increased conversion rates.” Now that is true digital transformation.
Ever missed a deadline because it slipped your mind? With Power Automate, those days are over. Set up conditional notifications for everything from low inventory alerts to project deadlines, all you need is an email address. You can even escalate notifications when someone forgets, drop in a manager and division lead. All these custom workflows can be incorporated with ease.
It’s like having a personal assistant who never forgets… and knows where to go when someone isn’t available.
Social media is great for business, but it can be a real time-suck. Power Automate lets you schedule posts, track engagement, and maintain a consistent online presence without being glued to your phone 24/7. Even track your results with Power BI for business intelligence.
It’s like being an social media influencer, minus the need for perfect selfies and #blessed hashtags.
Ready to dip your toes into the automation pool? Here’s a quick guide to creating your first flow:
Identify a simple, repetitive task or paper-based process you can use to creae business workflows.
Pro tip: Start small and scale up. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is a fully automated business process! The Power Platform has you covered though, and you can build up as you go.
Now, we know what you’re thinking. “But won’t this put people out of jobs?” Fear not! Automation isn’t about replacing humans; it’s about freeing them up to do more valuable, creative work. It’s like giving your team superpowers.
And what about data security? Power Automate is built with enterprise-grade security, so your data is safer than your atm pin.
Finally, what about your old applications that don’t have a connector for Power Automate? This is where Robotic Process Automation or RPA comes in. Using RPA, you can pretend to be a real person clicking the buttons to get data entered and extracted. So your cloud flow can talk to your local application easily.
As for user adoption, well, that’s where our expertise at Propelle comes in. We’ve helped countless businesses implement process automation and we’ve got the experience (and heaps of success stories) to prove it.
Now, let’s talk return on investment. Because at the end of the day, that’s what gets the bigwigs excited before we start solving business challenges, improving operational efficiency and approval flows.
Key metrics to track include time saved, error reduction, and employee satisfaction. And the results can be staggering. One study by Forrester found that Power Automate can deliver an ROI of up to 199% over three years. That’s enough to make any CFO do a happy dance! This is also where Power BI comes into play: see what is happening, adoption and performance of processes across the organisation.
So there you have it. Power Automate isn’t just a tool; it’s your ticket to a more efficient, productive, and dare we say, enjoyable work life.
At Propelle, we’re passionate about helping businesses like yours harness the power of automation. We’ve seen first-hand how it can transform organisations, and we can help you do the same.
Ready to take the plunge? We’re offering a free automation opportunity assessment. It’s like a treasure hunt, but instead of gold, we’re finding efficiency gems in your business processes by going process mining.
And here’s a bonus tip to get you started: Take a look at your most common email requests along with their email attachments. Chances are, there’s an approval process in there just begging to be automated and they aren’t always complex workflows. Why not sketch out how it could work in Power Automate? Trust us, your future self will thank you!
Remember, in the world of business processes, it’s automate or stagnate. And with Power Automate, the future’s looking bright… and a whole lot less chaotic!
