How we at The Flow give you the ‘Power (of a) Center of Excellence’

The demand for digital and mobile apps keeps rising. Meanwhile, 86% of organisations experience difficulties finding technical talent. Invest in custom solutions then? That also brings challenges. That is why at The Flow we make the difference with the accessible Microsoft Power Platform and our own Center of Excellence.

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The added value of Power Platform

Before we dive deeper, let us quickly introduce you to Power Platform and what it has to offer you. Power Platform is a set of low-code tools. They were designed for companies that want to create apps to increase their productivity. The set includes components such as Power Apps, which lets you quickly create apps, and Power Automate, designed for automating business processes.

But what exactly is “low-code”? Well, it is actually a method to build apps using pre-built components. This way citizen developers (employees with little to no experience in programming or IT) can develop applications.

Gartner’s prediction is that 70% of business applications will rely on low-code or no-code technology by 2025. Need it still be said that Power Platform is currently on the rise? We are therefore thrilled to guide more and more clients through their Power Platform journey.

Now, no worries if you wonder how on earth you should implement yet another enterprise application in your organisation. Power Platform’s intuitive design makes it incredibly easy to learn the tricks of the trade. This way your team can also get started in no time.  

At The Flow we recognise one thing in any case: although Power Platform is a powerful platform, it is mainly the human side of the story that determines success. That is why we invest heavily in the adoption part.

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Business benefits of Power Platform

But what benefits does your organisation concretely get from Power Platform? In a nutshell:

• Up to 74% lower development costs thanks to the in-house development of applications with Power Platform (eliminating the need for vendor licensing costs).
• Increased efficiency through digitalising workflows, reducing paperwork, reducing human errors and promoting mutual collaboration and real-time access to data.
• Shorter development cycles and faster time-to-market.
• Accelerated innovation by letting non-technical users make data-driven decisions.
• Streamlining app management and improving security by centralising low-code tools and minimising shadow IT risks.

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The importance of a Center of Excellence

Microsoft Power Platform offers a wide range of benefits. At the same time, it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Every organisation has unique objectives. Some are looking to automate specific tasks or processes, while others want to develop smartphone apps for their employees who have to be out on the road. And that is precisely where our very own Power Center of Excellence (CoE) comes into play.

A Power Center of Excellence aligns Power Platform solutions with your strategic business objectives and promotes adoption and business innovation. The CoE is actually a knowledge hub, which centralises best practices, standard templates and valuable resources. This way your teams can leverage collective expertise and tackle business challenges more effectively.

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First we bring IT and business stakeholders together. This way the CoE acts as a driving force for good collaboration within the low-code journey. We get to work on the strategy, make roadmaps and first build a Proof of Concept (PoC) for each application. This way we don’t have to immediately scale to large, business-critical applications.

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Center of Excellence toolkit

The best results for your organisation? At The Flow we achieve those by deploying Microsoft’s CoE toolkit. With dashboard functions, smart tools, templates and training information, you are assured of an efficient setup and sustainable management.

Important: if your organisation already has strong processes for IT management, a Center of Excellence toolkit is not optimal. In that case, rather consider adapting these for Power Platform.

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Your Power Platform journey with The Flow

Both the implementation of the Power CoE and the adoption are not a one-off event. It is an ongoing journey, whose long-term success depends on a healthy balance between business knowledge and IT expertise.

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That is why we approach the Microsoft Power Platform in your company in a holistic way. So we take care of the following:

• App lifecycle management: managing the development of Power Platform apps from a to z.
• Business model: a framework for how Power Platform apps should function within your organisation.
• Support model: ongoing support for implemented Power Platform solutions.
• Insights: analysing data and feedback to steer strategic decisions.
• Citizen development: helping non-technical staff create their own solutions.
• Security & integration management: monitoring app security and ensuring seamless integration with other systems.

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Conclusion? The Power Platform supports IT teams and their citizen developers across the board. But real transformation only happens with a good interplay between business and IT. Contact us today, and take the next step in your innovative efforts!

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