The question all leaders ask when it comes to digital business investment is: “is it worth it?” Knowing the answer to this question is important for decision making. Earlier this year, Microsoft commissioned a study from Forrester Consulting. This Total Economic ImpactTM study looks at the financial benefits of citizen development methods within the business using Microsoft’s Power Platform.
In the study, Forrester set out to quantify the financial impact and better understand the investment. To do this, Forrester aggregated the feedback of 10 decision-makers from seven organizations into a single composite organization and reported back several findings. In short, the study found that the Power Platform does improve business outcomes.
Forrester Consulting Key Findings:
- 502% Return on Investment over 3 years
- $25.92M in Net Present Value (NPV)
- 48% Decrease in Application Development Costs
You can check out the full report HERE or keep reading below for a high-level summary.
What is the Microsoft Power Platform?
You’ve likely heard about the Power Platform around the virtual water cooler, but maybe haven’t seen it in action yet. The Power Platform consists of four complementary products:
- Power BI – A business analytics tool that provides interactive reports that displays visual insights for all decision makers within the business.
- Power Apps – A low code/no code tool for custom app development so users can collect data and automate tasks for organizational optimization and efficiency.
- Power Automate – A tool that helps create automated workflows between tools for time consuming tasks that are repetitive or manual within the business.
- Power Virtual Agents – Make it easy for anyone to build virtual agents (or bots) that engage intelligently with people, internal or external of the business, to add to efficiencies and service levels.
The toolset is designed to take organizations into the future with a set of accessible tools that enable businesses to be more self sufficient with their development efforts. The idea being, who better to design the reports, the apps, or the automated workflows than the people who understand the ins and outs of the business.
With this toolset integrated as part of a company’s tech stack, leaders can implement a citizen development strategy. It is a DIY development approach that empowers anyone to use low-code/no-code tools to build solutions and unlock value for the business.
The reality for most organizations is that they currently do not have the tools to create their own applications and workflows or reports. Therefore, they rely on third party software or apps that do not always fit the nuances of the business. This type of model works, but usually means centralized reporting efforts which can limit the timeliness of information and the ability to respond quickly to changes in the market or business.
Is it Worth the Investment?
With the study’s findings highlighting a 502% Return on Investment (ROI) in 3 years, the answer is likely “yes.” Other findings in the report were:
- With Power Platform a more agile business was created, which improved business outcomes and revenues due to faster and less expensive development efforts.
- Power Platform effectively replaced third-party applications and intelligence tools.
- Accessible and insightful reporting led to better business visibility which leads to employees making better decisions, faster.
- There are many synergistic advantages that comes from a unified tech stack, like Microsoft. Power Platform can help maximize the value achieved with products such as Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365.
If You Need Help, Convverge is Here!
Starting on a journey of digital transformation can be daunting for companies to find the right people and skills for the company. Quite often there can be a knowledge gap. Our team at Convverge knows how to navigate this roadblock to bring people and technology together. Our team are experts in Microsoft, including the Power Platform, and we know how to help organizations better understand the opportunities to build a modern digital business strategy that leads to success. Contact us anytime to get the conversation going.
