What is our primary use case?
We use the solution as part of Dynamics 365 Online. Within that, we use Power Apps and we've integrated something on the on-prem database.
The app is located within Dynamics 365 Online. It draws data from an on-prem data source. We use it to perform certain actions in Teams, so we have Dynamics 365 and Teams integration.
We've created an email reader using Power Apps.
What is most valuable?
The solution is pretty easy to create and deploy apps.
You don't need a very high level of technical knowledge. Of course, you do need some level of technical knowledge, however, a normal developer can easily learn and deploy Power Apps.
The initial setup is very simple.
The solution scales well.
What needs improvement?
They need a bit of RPA functionalities. There are other competitive products such as ServiceNow and Automation Anywhere. They offer exhaustive functionalities. Power Apps as a platform maybe need some ready-made templates that could be deployed. That would help.
There are occasional performance challenges.
The product could do some integrations with third-party providers. That can be still expanded. They do have a decent number of integrations and connectors available, however many of those connectors only offer the basic functionalities. I'd like to see better, wider connectivity.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for six to eight months at this point. It's been less than a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In general, the product works fine. That said, there are occasional challenges in performance and when you actually have Power Apps working with other products on Power Platform, such as the Power Automate, et cetera. By and large, however, it's pretty stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have about 300 users on the solution currently. We do have approximately 700 plus users on Dynamics 365, however, not all of them are using Power Apps.
The solution is pretty easy to scale.
We pretty much use this solution on a daily basis. It's used a lot.
How are customer service and support?
We reached out to technical support just once where Power Automate wasn't actually triggering an event. Apart from that one ticket, it's been working fine. We haven't really dealt with technical support too much.
We have normal support. We don't have Premier Support. Of course, the response time was about average when we used them. In the end, the issue was something to do with the core product, so they have actually had to take it up with the product engineering team at Microsoft as well.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I'm aware of ServiceNow and Automation Anywhere.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very straightforward and simple. It's not complex or difficult.
There was some background development involved during the deployment process.
The is no maintenance required.
What about the implementation team?
We did not need any outside assistance from consultants or integrators. We handled it in-house ourselves.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is pretty good. Microsoft offers very good value for money.
Apart from the licensing, storage is actually the costliest part. One needs to actually look at how to optimize the use of storage as ultimately it's on the cloud. It's part of the Dataverse storage now, with Dynamics 365, Power Apps, et cetera. That bit of the offering is the costliest part.
The product license and platform licensing are good. That's definitely value for money compared to some of the other vendors. Microsoft is placed well. It's just the storage, as I said, that's costly.
What other advice do I have?
We are customers and end-users.
We are using the cloud version, and therefore we are going with whatever is the latest available functionality.
At least for the regular day-to-day work, one can build very useful apps with minimal investment. One can start fast. The only thing is, you need to have people actually experiment on this. Other than that, it's a good platform.
Currently, I'd rate the solution at a seven out of ten right now, as there's continuous improvement that's happening and, once that happens, in the future, I will likely be rated even higher.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.