Power Automate

Power Automate, previously known as Microsoft Flow, gives the user the ability to create static and dynamic solutions to business processes of varying complexity. While Power Automate includes many user-friendly solutions, it also gives tech savvy individuals freedom to customize their workflows to automate more processes.

There are many statistics that encourage the move to transform your business to become more automated. 

• According to a McKinsey report, 45% of current paid activities can be automated by today’s technology, an equivalent of $2 trillion in total annual wages.
  
  
• A study by Unit 4 revealed that globally, office workers spend 69 days a year on administrative tasks, costing companies $5 trillion a year.
  
  
• Professionals take 18 minutes on average to locate a document manually––20% to 40% of their time––and spend 50% of their time searching for information.

Power automate comes with many solutions already tailored to specific business processes. 

Flows can be simple and straightforward:

As seen above, a basic flow can be started whenever a new file in is added to SharePoint. This can be used to notify team members to maintain a high level of communication. SharePoint is not the only program that can be used in conjunction with Power Automate. As you can see, an Outlook connection can be created to send out emails for any purpose. The emails sent out are highly customizable as well.

 However, flow aren't always going to be small and simple:

This flow follows a single path down while relying on each step before it. 

Power Automate gives the user the option of going big or small, but no matter which path you choose, you will be able to create a unique flow based on your needs. As with any piece of technology, there are going to be limitations, but Power Automate rarely hits those limits.

The way Gray Leaf plans workflows is just as intricate as the way we build them. We visualize our approach to ensure that you get exactly what you need out of a workflow.

This diagram was created using Microsoft Visio. 

Why should I automate business processes?
Businesses are hard enough to run without having to worry about all the little tasks you need to do every day. Automating the simple and tedious tasks can make your days more manageable and keep your business running smoothly and efficiently. Taking your focus off trivial tasks that just take up time also gives you more free time to enhance other areas of your business.

How would automation decrease business costs?
Spending the extra time on small tasks throughout the day can cause some serious scheduling issues. Automating your business processes allows you to focus on more important things and gets your staff working more efficiently. This keeps projects running smoothly and lowers labor on smaller tasks.  

How would we automate our business processes?
Power Automate is one of a few options to consider when automating business processes. Power Automate easily performs everyday tasks, such as notifying users, moving documents, and editing lists. SharePoint offers additional options such as document approvals, notifications, creating versions of documents, and many more. Automating simple tasks has never been easier!

What problems would be solved with automating business processes? Miscommunication is sometimes an issue when users are moving and working on many files simultaneously. However, with Power Automate and SharePoint we can create processes where updates go out automatically. Per your business process, we can also automate the movement and deletion of documents, so that when an action is complete, you need not remember to clean up your files.