Is Your Company Ready for the Power Platform? Maximise Your Digital ROI Without a Huge Investment

Power Platform is a game-changer for businesses looking to automate workflows, create apps, and make data-driven decisions. However, it’s common for companies to be sceptical about adopting it, especially if they are not quite ready. The good news is that there are small, practical steps you can take now to prepare for the platform without needing to make huge investments upfront. By focusing on change management, identifying key stakeholders, and leveraging agile principles, you can prepare to harness the full potential of the Power Platform while ensuring a high ROI along the way.

Embracing Change Management for Success

Implementing any new technology requires change, and this is especially true with the Power Platform. Whether you’re aiming to build apps, automate processes, or improve data analysis, it's important to guide your organisation through the transition in a way that minimises disruption and maximises adoption. This is where change management takes place.

Change management helps you navigate the complexities of introducing a new platform. Without it, you risk facing employee resistance, usage confusion, and inefficiencies that may impede your investment. Therefore, it is crucial to engage people early in the process.

Apply Agile Principles to Build Momentum

Implementing the Power Platform doesn't have to occur all at once. It is better to take an incremental approach using agile principles. Agile enables you to break down larger projects into smaller, more manageable milestones, allowing room for feedback and refinement throughout the process. It helps build confidence and ensures that you are well-aligned with your business needs at each step.

💡Pro Tip: You don’t need to implement everything in one go, start with a simple process that’s easy to automate or an app that’s quick to develop. As you gain experience, you can expand the scope and begin tackling more complex problems.

8 Practical Steps to Get Started Without Breaking the Bank

Getting your business ready for the Power Platform is an exciting journey, and making smart, small investments can lead to impressive returns! Here’s how you can do that ⤵️

1. Define Your Business Challenges

Before you even think about adopting the Power Platform, it’s critical to understand what problems you’re trying to solve. What are the bottlenecks in your current processes? Where can automation make the biggest impact? By identifying these challenges upfront, you ensure that Power Platform is implemented where it can add the most value.

💥Action: Gather feedback from different departments or teams and create a list of business pain points. Whether it’s reducing manual data entry, improving workflow approvals, or centralizing reporting, knowing your goals will help you identify how the Power Platform can make a difference.

2. Identify Sponsors and Champions

One of the key elements of successful the Power Platform adoption is identifying sponsors and champions within your organisation. Sponsors are top-tier leaders who actively advocate for the platform and help secure resources, while champions are enthusiastic users who help drive adoption across teams. These stakeholders are significant in guiding the company through the transition and ensuring the platform is embraced at all levels.

💥Action: Identify potential sponsors (e.g., senior leaders or department heads) who can champion the platform at an executive level. Additionally seek out passionate employees who are willing to experiment with new tools and can act as champions within their teams. This approach will encourage inclusiveness and participation at each departmental level.

3. Prepare Your Data for Integration

The Power Platform is data-driven, and to get the best results, your data needs to be clean, structured, and easily accessible. It’s essential to prioritise organisation and consolidation of your data, so that it is ready for integration with the platform when you decide to move forward.

💥Action: Review your data sources, whether they're in spreadsheets, legacy systems, or different software tools and begin cleaning and centralising your data in a format that can be easily accessed by the Power Platform, such as Microsoft Dataverse or SharePoint.

4. Take an Agile Approach to Change

Instead of rolling out the Power Platform to the entire organisation, start with a small project or department. This allows you to learn, iterate, and refine the process before scaling it company-wide.

💥Action: Choose a pilot project to test the waters by automating a simple workflow or creating a basic app for a specific team. Collect feedback along the way and improve as needed. This agile, iterative process ensures that you’re continuously improving while keeping the risk low.

5. Train Your Team and Upskill Internally

One of the biggest challenges of adopting the Power Platform is the skill gap, but training is inexpensive and quick. Utilise free online resources to help your team get started.

💥Action: Take advantage of Microsoft’s free learning paths via Microsoft Learn, community forums, and YouTube tutorials and encourage them to explore Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI on their own. This empowers your team to become more self-sufficient and solution ready.

6. Consider External Help for Specialised Needs

While citizen development can be a great option, there are stages where bringing in external help is sensible, especially if your team is stretched thin or you need specialised expertise for more complicated tasks.

💥Action: If you feel the need for additional expertise, consider seeking external support from a consultant or service provider. They can guide you through complex areas like integrations and governance, helping to avoid pitfalls and boost your confidence without relying solely on in-house resources.

7. Focus on Quick Wins for Immediate ROI

A great way to build momentum and demonstrate the value of the Power Platform is to focus on quick wins, which are projects that require minimal investment but offer substantial benefits.

💥Action: Identify processes that are time-consuming and repetitive but relatively simple to automate, such as approval workflows or report generation. These types of wins can help reduce manual labour, save time, and improve efficiency, all of which translate to a fast ROI.

8. Develop a Governance Framework

As the Power Platform adoption grows, it's important to have a clear governance structure in place to manage access, security, and compliance. This will ensure that your platform usage remains compliant, especially as more people begin building apps and automating workflows.

💥Action: Start with basic governance principles, such as defining who has access to build apps, which data can be used and setting up security protocols. This framework can evolve as the platform scales, but establishing a solid foundation early on will help you avoid complications in the future.

Final Thoughts: Preparing for the Future of Power Platform

It is okay if your organisation is not yet prepared to fully engage with the Power Platform. The integration of new technology can be complex, and it is prudent to adopt a methodical approach. By implementing small, strategic steps focused on change management, agile principles, and key stakeholder engagement, you can establish a strong digital foundation for future success.

There's no need for immediate, large-scale implementation. Starting with manageable initiatives and achieving quick wins can build momentum. If needed, consider engaging specialised consultants for support. Whether you proceed independently or with experts, it’s important to begin now and plan carefully to maximise the Power Platform’s potential for your organisation. Each step you take is a step towards your company's digital transformation journey!