Last Updated on August 12, 2024
What advantages can you expect?
In this article, I will explain the key benefits of Power Automate that might help you decide whether or not to use this tool.
Let’s get started.
Table of Contents:
What is Power Automate?
Have you heard of a tool or software that enables you to automate tasks from various platforms?
Power Automate is a cloud-based business process automation software for automating workflows and processes.
Here’s how it works:
- It connects to specific tools and software
- You set up a flow that will happen automatically based on rules and triggers
You can even go deeper and customize the flow all you want. 🙂
Some examples of what you can do with Microsoft Power Automate:
- Save email attachments from Outlook.com to Dropbox
- Send an email for new Tweets about a certain keyword
- Trigger a flow with a Power BI data-driven alert
- Request approval for a selected file
👉 Related: Introduction to Microsoft Power Automate (Updated Version)
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What are the benefits of Power Automate?
Here are some of the reasons why businesses use Microsoft Power Automate:
1. Set and forget
The first one is about streamlining tasks and improving the overall productivity of your team.
Review your business processes — how many repetitive tasks do you have?
Imagine how much time you can save if you don’t have to think about any of those tasks again. 🙂
As I explained earlier, you can create automated workflows that work and start on their own.
You can then forget about those tasks since the tool will do them for you automatically (as long as you set it right).
Because of that, you and your team members are now free to focus on things that really matter.
As I wrote at the beginning of this item, Power Automate helps improve the overall productivity of your team.
2. Not a pain to set up (templates)
The less resistance there is to do a task, the more likely someone will be able to do that task right away.
I explained above how Power Automate can improve productivity (and save time in the process).
This sounds tempting.
However, if it was hard adapting to this tool or setting up all its automation features, people wouldn’t be using it. 🤷
But since there are so many templates available, the resistance barrier to actually setting up a flow is almost negligent:
All you have to do is visit the templates page and use the search feature.
Likely, there’s already an existing flow for the business process that you have in mind, especially when linked to common tools.
If not, you can always start from scratch — the steps in doing so are actually easier than most people think:
👉 Related: Microsoft Flow Approval: Multiple Approvers (Updated Guide)
3. Integrates with most tools you use
If an automation tool like Power Automate can’t connect to other tools and software, it would be useless. 😅
Fortunately, Power Automate has more than 1,000 prebuilt connectors so you can link to popular services outside Microsoft.
Examples of external connectors include:
- Google Calendar
- Gmail
- YouTube
- Todoist
It’s likely that Power Automate integrates seamlessly with most of the platforms and tools you use in business.
You can also create a custom connector using an API key for the Cognitive Services Text Analytics API.
4. Make smarter decisions
Like any good business software, Power Automate collects data from the business flows you created.
That data can help you create more accurate and timely decisions that can largely affect the success of your business.
Here’s an example data of an RSS flow I created:
The image above was taken from the process insights preview right inside the monitor feature in Power Automate.
Collecting business-related data is quite important these days, especially when your business deals with digital information.
5. Make fewer mistakes
What’s awesome about Power Automate is that you can automate repetitive tasks once and for all.
When humans do repetitive tasks, the monotonous nature sometimes leads us to overlook things and make mistakes.
With Power Automate, you only have to set a flow once and it will run on its own unless stopped or instructed.
That means the real human interaction only happens during the setup stage (or when you need further edits):
The automation then eliminates human error, which means little to no mistakes in the processes and tasks.
This results in your team feeling more satisfied and not being bogged down by boring and monotonous work.
6. On-the-go access
How usable is Power Automate if you’re not always at your desk?
There’s a Power Automate mobile app where you can create, run, and check the business process automation flows you created:
The app will provide you access to your automation on the go so you don’t have to feel strapped to your desktop.
⚠️ Note: Power Automate is present in both Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store.
When to use Power Automate?
By now, you already have some ideas on how you can adapt Power Automate to your business.
If you’re not sure, here are some ideas:
- Client onboarding
- Billing and claims
- Payroll and reporting
- Point of sale
- Inventory management
Besides those I mentioned here, there are business processes that can be automated — but need a bit of a setup.
Microsoft already gave out the tools for its users to create robotic process automation flows right inside Power Automate.
Anyway, got any questions about the advantages of Power Automate? Let me know below.
For business inquiries, kindly reach out through this contact form here and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
