Transcript

Steve: Hey everybody, welcome back to 3 in 3. The topic for this episode is Power Automate and I’ve got Bill Feldker with me who is our cloud architect and resident expert on all things Office 365, so let’s jump in.

So, Bill, what is Power Automate?

Bill: So, Power Automate is the tool in Office 365 that is used to automate business processes.

Steve: I mean, yes, it’s really as simple as that. It’s an automation tool that’s build into Office 465 and it’s so powerful and that’s why we’re here to talk about it today.

So, now that we know what it is, it’s an automation tool in Office 365, what is interesting about [Power Automate] and why should our listeners and viewers start using Power Automate?

Bill: So, basically, it really has a lot of power and especially not just in simple tools like SharePoint. It has power all across Office 365. You can build a flow that can actually do form approvals or it can do a publishing process that you used to not be able to do. Think of a paper form that I used to have. Now I can automate the paper form and automate the approval process on the back end of that. So, it’s great because you can really use those tools. One of the things that we’ve done recently with the tool is to actually do team provisioning or SharePoint site provisioning with it. So, they can fill out a form, request a team, and now I can actually create that all with Power Automate on the back end.

Steve: Yes, that’s a huge, huge advantage and I think the power is that it’s integrated throughout all of Office 365, so something as simple as doing a workflow approval can now just show up right in your outlook email. You click approve and it goes on to the next step.

So now that we know a little bit about what it is and why it’s so important and interesting for our viewers, the last question is what can or what should people start doing with [Power Automate] today?

Bill: So, if you have an E3 license on Office 365 or Microsoft 365, you can started right away. The tool is out there, Power Automate is the tool. You can create a simple flow. It’s as simple as I can click a button inside a flow to trigger one or I can use things like replacing my old SharePoint workflows. So, if you’re a Power user and you’ve had that experience before, get started using it right away.

Steve: Yes, I think that’s great advice. I’d say maybe thinking about if you have a manual process, paper process today, maybe trying to create that in Power Automate. If you have an existing SharePoint workflow maybe look to use Power Automate for that. Then, certainly, provisioning of teams and SharePoint, there’s a lot of work that we’ve done that I know proves the value of Automate.

So, thank you for that Bill and of course, for viewers, if you have any more questions or want more information about Power Automate or anything else inside of Office 365, reach out to use or connect with us at valoremreply.com. Thanks Bill and we’ll see everybody next time.