Power Platform Low-Code Application Development in Digitalization

Power Platform has become a cost-effective solution for driving business development and revitalizing stalled digitalization efforts. It also plays a key role in exploring impactful ways to integrate a company’s data with artificial intelligence. What makes Power Platform particularly elegant is its ability to address digital needs without adding extra strain on IT.

Revitalizing Digitalization with Power Platform

This decade has been anything but easy. We’ve moved from one crisis to another, slowing the momentum of promising digital transformation initiatives.

In businesses, this has been reflected in frozen or postponed application development projects. However, cutting costs on development projects designed to enhance business operations is like dismantling the foundation of your house to keep the lights on—short-sighted and ultimately unsustainable..

Over time, technical debt can snowball into an unmanageable problem. That’s why it’s essential to find ways to advance digitalization initiatives, even with limited budgets.

This is precisely where Power Platform and low-code development provide a cost-effective solution. According to Forrester, leveraging Power Platform can reduce application development timelines by 50%, resulting in significant cost savings in monetary terms as well.

The Secret Third Option Between SaaS and Traditional Application Development

Digitalization solutions for businesses typically fall into two categories:

Ready-made SaaS solutions, where customization is limited to configurations and API integrations.
SaaS solutions are quick to deploy, cost-effective, and generally reliable. However, they rarely provide a competitive edge, as the same applications are likely used by many others.
Traditional application development, where a unique solution tailored to the company and its processes is built from the ground up. Custom applications offer unlimited customization possibilities, making the creation of competitive, value-adding services limited only by imagination and technical capabilities. The downside? Costs can escalate, and development timelines may stretch significantly.

Gaining a Competitive Edge Through Rapid and Comprehensive Digitalization

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Another strength of Power Platform and low-code application development lies in their ability to extend digitalization to processes and tasks where traditional application development might yield a weak ROI.

Applications built on Power Platform maintain reasonable lifecycle costs due to rapid development and platform-level maintenance. This means that for the cost of developing one traditional application, you can create several low-code apps. The result? A significant boost in efficiency across multiple areas, which can directly enhance a company’s competitiveness. Additionally, data quality improves, laying a stronger foundation for future AI applications.

And contrary to what you might assume, the possibilities of Power Platform aren't confined to the Microsoft ecosystem. With over 900 pre-built connectors, it integrates seamlessly with all major cloud services and systems, including AWS, Google Cloud, and SAP.

Maximizing Value from Large-Scale Projects with a Hybrid Model

Power Platform and low-code development are not at odds with traditional application development—quite the opposite. In large-scale projects, combining the two can bring both speed and cost-efficiency.

For instance, the core and backend of an application can be built using traditional methods, while various user interfaces are developed with Power Platform. The savings achieved with low-code can either be reinvested into creating additional interfaces or simply improve the project's cost efficiency.

This hybrid model is a perfect fit for us. At Cloud1, we’ve had excellent capabilities in all forms of application development since acquiring a majority stake in Devisioona Oy in the spring of 2024.

What Kind of Applications can Power Platform Handle?

At Cloud1, we’ve been leveraging Power Platform for years to develop various applications. Here are some examples of use cases:

Data Validation
Our earliest Power Apps implementations were tied to Power BI reports. Occasionally, errors appeared in the data, requiring corrections at the source. The simplest solution was to create a Power App that allowed users to make the necessary corrections immediately upon identifying an error.
Data Entry
Despite ongoing digitalization, paper forms and manual data collection processes remain common in many companies. A typical Power App project replaces these with an application that automates data transfer to the desired destination via Power Automate.
Hybrid Solutions for Complex Needs
With a hybrid model, even more complex solutions become achievable. For example, we’ve built a cost-efficient warehouse management system for one of our clients by combining Power Platform with traditional development methods.
Scenario Calculation
Production planning, quotes, and forecasts often require calculations that can take weeks to complete due to the need to gather and combine data from various sources. With Power Platform, it’s possible to build an app that automates data collection and calculations—eliminating the need for unreliable Excel files.

Power Platform Plays a Crucial Role in AI Application Development

The AI revolution is advancing rapidly across industries. When discussing the next generation of AI applications, the importance of a company’s own data often takes center stage. But as the conversation shifts from visionary speeches to practical implementation, one key question arises: What are these AI applications actually meant to do?

The answer lies in rigorous experimentation, and Power Platform provides an accessible way to test various interactions between AI and humans.

Future AI applications might include "human-in-the-loop" solutions, where humans evaluate AI-generated recommendations—something most off-the-shelf systems don’t support. Another use case involves control panels that allow users to adjust parameters, prompts, and other variables related to AI operations. A third example is leveraging generative AI in support services to enhance customer experiences.

All of these require user interfaces. And what’s the most efficient way to build those? On the very same low-code platform we’ve been showcasing throughout this article.

Do you want to dive deeper into Power Platform? Contact us, and let’s continue the conversation!