Microsoft Flow, now rebranded as Power Automate, is a tool that allows users to automate processes and tasks within the Office 365 workflow. Microsoft Office 365 has a variety of applications that are vital for business operations and hundreds of companies. Applications like:

Microsoft Word
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft OneNote
Microsoft OneDrive

and others. Microsoft software performs their own functions, but each application is in its individual “lane” and does not generally interact with other apps. Microsoft Flow and Power Automate let the apps speak with each other and perform actions based on triggers generated by other applications.

What is Power Automate?

Microsoft Power Automate is a software that can automate processes and tasks through the connection of multiple platforms and applications. Users are able to join Microsoft Office 365 applications to one another or to a huge selection of other applications but only in cloud or on-premises environments.

Automated processes can be swiftly and easily developed, which means those with an knowledge the basics of Office 365 can create basic automations to make their day-to-day working life more efficient. Advanced users can use Microsoft Power Apps or Power BI to design customized business procedures. Utilizing workflows (also called flows) users are able to easily determine how different applications must work together.

Templates, Workflows, and Connectors

A workflow, at its simple level, defines an action that initiates an action. A good example is when the user gets an email message from a coworker which includes an attachment that attachment will be uploaded into SharePoint. The user receives an email message from a member of the team and adding the attached file into SharePoint. Workflows could be as simple as two steps or even incredibly complicated, requiring numerous steps and programs.

Flow templates are built-in automation templates provided by Microsoft which cover the most frequently used applications of Power Automate. A variety of pre-built templates are available that cover some of the most well-known applications such as Salesforce, Google Drive, Dropbox and the social networks, SQL server, and many more.

Connectors let users join and connect directly to many of the applications within Microsoft Office 365. Connectors allow users to connect directly into a variety of apps Microsoft Office 365 suite and across the internet. The list of connectors that are constantly growing comprises Facebook, Salesforce (and other CRM systems), Azure, Google products such as Drive, Gmail, and Sheets, Slack, and many more.

Utilizing Power Automate Workflows in business

Power Automate is an essential capability for any business. Automating business processes can boost efficiency across departments, ensure that stakeholders are updated, and make day-today tasks simpler. Power Automate automate workflows can;

Inform sales teams about deals and opportunities in the CRM.
Push notifications to notify you when urgent emails arrive
Documents should be archived and organized.
Follow Social media sites and streamline marketing tasks
Encourage users to do daily actions, whether weekly, or every quarter. actions

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