Grow your output, not your overhead
When work grows faster than your team, the usual answer is another hire. Often the better answer is removing the manual steps that eat your team's week, and the tools to do it are probably already part of your Microsoft 365 environment.
Where the extra capacity comes from
Power Platform is Microsoft's set of low-code tools for apps, automation, and reporting. For your business, it creates capacity in three ways.
It runs on what you own
Your files, email, and calendars already live in Microsoft 365. Power Platform works inside that same environment, with the same sign-in and security, so your team isn't learning a separate system and your data stays under the security you already manage.
It removes the hand-offs
Most lost time is in the gaps: forwarding, re-typing, chasing approvals, and checking status. Automating those gaps returns hours to the people doing the actual work.
It makes the numbers visible
When data lands in one place automatically, reports build themselves. Managers see recent data instead of last month's spreadsheet.
What one Microsoft-commissioned study found
return on investment over three years
or less to pay back the investment
of time saved for each employee using the new solutions
faster development than with legacy tools
Source: Forrester Consulting, The Total Economic Impact of Microsoft Power Platform, commissioned by Microsoft, July 2024. Figures describe a composite organization built from customer interviews; your results will vary.
Estimate the time your team could get back
Research is a starting point. Here's what it could look like for one of your own processes. Adjust the sliders and the estimate updates as you go.
What your Microsoft 365 plan already includes
Here's what Microsoft 365 business plans include and what's licensed separately.
| Capability | Included with Microsoft 365 business plans? | If you need more |
|---|---|---|
| Power Apps and Power Automate with standard connectors (SharePoint, Outlook, Teams, Excel Online) | Yes, in Business Basic, Standard, and Premium, and in E3 and E5 | Many first projects fit here |
| Premium connectors (such as SQL Server or Dataverse), custom connectors, and on-premises data | No | Power Apps Premium, $20 per user per month, or Power Automate Premium, $15 per user per month |
| Copilot and AI | Copilot Chat is included. Copilot inside Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams is licensed per person | Agents and AI steps in workflows use Copilot Credits. See our Copilot licensing guide |
| Building Power BI reports | Power BI Desktop is free | Sharing reports with colleagues needs Power BI Pro, $14 per user per month, which is included in Microsoft 365 E5 |
U.S. list prices with an annual commitment, as of October 2026. Licensing changes often, so we confirm against your actual plan during the free review. Sources: Power Automate licensing FAQ, Power Apps pricing, Power BI pricing.
Why not just buy another app?
Every new app adds a login, another system to learn, and another place your data lives. Over time those tools stop talking to each other, and someone ends up copying information between them.
Power Platform sits where your data already is. An approval built in Power Automate shows up in Teams. An app built in Power Apps saves to the SharePoint site your team already uses. A Power BI report reads from both. Fewer systems means less to learn, less to maintain, and less time moving data between them.
When it's not the right fit
We'll tell you if Power Platform isn't the answer. It's usually the wrong tool for:
- A product you sell to customers as software
- Very high-volume transaction processing, where a purpose-built system is the better fit
- A process a good off-the-shelf app already handles well for your industry
In those cases we'll recommend a better path, whether that's a product that already fits or custom development, which we also take on.
Have a process that eats your team's week?
Book a free Microsoft 365 value review. In 30 minutes we look at one process and where your team's time goes, then send a short written summary of what's possible and what it would take.