Have you made the investment of Microsoft 365 and are now interested in getting your intranet up and running? When research begins for finding the best solution for your intranet on SharePoint, you are bound to see dozens of Intranet-In-a-Box companies offering a solution with the promise of the easiest, most affordable custom intranet out there. Is the promise of greatness all that it is cracked up to be? Follow along to find out a little bit more about your initial investment with Microsoft 365 and see why Intranet-In-a-Box companies don’t want you to know about Microsoft Power Platform!
What:
What is the Microsoft Power Platform and what does this mean for your intranet strategy, employee engagement needs and budget?
The “Power Platform” combines Power BI, Power Apps, and Power Automate (previously known as Microsoft Flow) collectively providing a “low-code/no-code” platform to easily access, analyze and automate data and business functions.
This allows non-technical users to create simple mobile friendly apps or data visualizations with little-to-no code and no development knowledge. You can provide a personalized and targeted view of data and information, create and interact with business processes with an engaging user. Whatever you can imagine, there is an app that can achieve your vision.
Why:
Why should I consider including the Power Platform in my intranet strategy and why not just stick with SharePoint out of the box?
In the February 2020 edition of ClearBox Consulting’s, “SharePoint Intranets In-A-Box” report, there were 54 companies building proprietary software on top of SharePoint and Microsoft 365 with the promise of a better intranet. Remember these companies all require SharePoint and Office 365 as the base technology and no matter how “open” and “decoupled” the solutions claim to be, you are at the mercy of the vendors software release cycle and roadmap to align with your future needs and challenges! It is very challenging for these 3rd Party Solutions to stay up to date when Microsoft is rapidly releasing new products and features.
With Microsoft Power Platform, you will not get designed into a corner or have to worry about your intranet breaking when Microsoft delivers an update because as Microsoft updates, so will all your apps and data sources built within the Power Platform.
Where:
Where does the Microsoft Power Platform fit in to my intranet strategy?
The Microsoft Power Platform has recently introduced additional capabilities giving you all the tools to build a world class Modern Digital Workplace that will rival the functionality and employee experience of any third-party intranet-in-a-box technology solution.
News Publishing, User Experience, Knowledge Management, Collaboration, Search and Navigation, Analytics, Governance, Employee Services and Integration with enterprise systems. These are all areas of importance as well as the areas ClearBox considered to be “Persistent Gaps” across all solutions evaluated. All of these items can be achieved using the Microsoft Power Platform, even the areas the intranet vendors are laggard, the Power Platform can make your intranet shine. Teams, Yammer, Planner are easily integrated. Or, maybe you are using Trello, Slack or WorkDay. With over 250 data connectors, each of the key functional areas and use cases you can imagine for your modern digital workplace, there is an app for that! Each of these apps, collectively become a single pane of glass providing a centralized and unified portal for your employees to engage with.
When:
When should I get started and how long is the process?
There has never been a better time to innovate on the intelligent cloud, than now! The Microsoft Power Platform provides a rapid path for businesses of all sizes to benefit from AI and Machine Learning in your applications. Extending the Power Platform with AI Builder you no longer need to be a data scientist to begin realizing the power of AI Cognitive Services. Deploy business processing, employee services and workflows or even Intelligent Bots can all be delivered quickly and efficiently. Begin your journey today and see how quickly all your plans and strategies can align across your entire business!
Who:
Who can help incorporate the Power Platform into your intranet?
If your organization already invests in Microsoft 365, you will more than likely already have licenses to the Microsoft Power Platform and SharePoint you are already paying for. This is all you need to meet your needs today and future proof with a timeless solution.
Microsoft has empowered you with all you need to configure your apps and SharePoint intranet to deliver the most advanced Modern Digital Workplace, without the need for a third-party intranet system.
With the right vision of what you are looking to achieve and use cases to deliver an empowering employee engagement experience, it is you who has the technology to deliver and incorporate using the Microsoft Power Platform’s low-code solution!
*Bonus* How:
The SharePoint Framework delivers page functions in the form of Web Parts, there are a handful of Web Parts available with SharePoint out of the box to get you started with a basic intranet setup. After defining your advanced use cases you can use the Power Platform to build each individual app for achieving your goals. Once your apps are created you can use the SharePoint PowerApps Web Part to add each App to your SharePoint intranet pages.
Another option you have is VystaPoint. We have called upon two decades of experience delivering Intranet solutions to identify and configure the most advanced PowerApps ready to drop into your environment. VystaPoint provides your Page Templates, Apps, Workflows, Integrations all created using the tools you already own, customized to your needs and designed for your brand. VystaPoint will deliver your Modern Intelligent Intranet quickly, cost effectively and without the need for additional software on top of your original investment of Microsoft 365!