Have you ever found yourself doing an annoying task at work, thinking: “Wouldn’t it be helpful if we had a tool to do this”? Whether it’s a holiday booking form, a field reporting app or an inventory system, there are so many jobs that could be made faster, smoother and less frustrating with handy tools and widgets.
The problem, however, is that this leaves you with the classic business software dilemma: Should you buy a third-party app which can (sort of) do the task for you, or do you pay a developer lots of money to build a tool that’s tailored to your business?
But things have changed. In 2017, Microsoft launched Power Apps, a ‘low- or no-code’ business app development tool which provides a middle way between these two extremes.
What is Power Apps?
Power Apps is a low- or no-code app development suite which is available as part of the Microsoft Power Platform. If your business uses Microsoft 365, then you probably already have a Power Platform license.
With Power Apps, your employees access an app builder where they can map out a user interface, create the logic of an app using drag and drop elements, and then publish it on your company’s intranet, on Teams, or another environment. It can be used to make very simple apps (think holiday requests or expense claim forms), but it can also produce powerful, sophisticated tools that support complex workflows and process large amounts of data.
Underpinning Power Apps is the notion of the ‘citizen developer’. Rather than relying on highly experienced programmers to build tools, Power Apps is meant to empower far more people to create apps that boost productivity for them and their colleagues. Since you don’t need to know programming languages to use Power Apps, you need far less training or expertise to build solutions.
According to a ‘total economic impact’ report (admittedly, funded by Microsoft), building a tool with Power Apps is about 50% less expensive than getting it built by professional developers.
Power Apps compared to building or buying apps
So, how does building software in Power Apps compare to either building or buying it yourself? The following tables can give you a rough idea.
Costs
Power Apps | Build | Buy |
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Strengths
Power Apps | Build | Buy |
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Weaknesses
Power Apps | Build | Buy |
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Use what you’re already got
Whenever your company decides it needs a new app, widget or some other software, you will have to weigh up the pros and cons of buying, building or using Power Apps in each situation. While we are definitely fans of the Microsoft citizen developer solution, we don’t see it as a ‘silver bullet’ and there are times that the alternatives make more sense. But, given that it’s free to use, secure and very effective, it should definitely be a consideration.
To learn more, contact us to speak to an expert and get started with Power Apps today!