Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Grocery chain in northern California and southern Oregon boosts customers relationships with custom app

A grocery chain needed a faster, more robust system for managing new product requests. Microsoft Power Apps was the solution. Quickly and easily developed in ten days, the new app not only saved time, but it also boosted revenue through streamlined, product-ordering flow. Find out why it's also popular with customers, and read their success story here:

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The City of Houston: Security as a job

For the city of Houston, modernization is an opportunity for secure government operations. The three main solutions officials focus on are disaster recovery/response, school safety, and transportation. By accessing more secure data with Microsoft IoT innovation, the city of Houston can respond to any crisis and ensure public safety.

Azure DevOps vs. GitHub: Comparing the Microsoft DevOps tools

When diving into the world of DevOps tools, it's important to remember that Microsoft Azure DevOps and GitHub each offer unique value and overlapping capabilities. They can be used separately or together, so there's even a "why not both?" scenario. Learn the history of these two DevOps tools, the specific advantages of each, and how to get started using them.

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Empowering managers

Retail managers have a lot on their plate, and ensuring that they make the best of the time they have available is imperative. One way to address this is to ensure that they have access to the business-critical information they need to obtain a holistic view of their customers and stores. This way, managers are empowered to make accurate decisions quickly based on the most-current data and focus on delivering innovative in-store experiences that increase revenue and improve customer loyalty. In this video, you'll see how Kroger's Microsoft-powered Virtual Store Manager solution enables retail decision-makers to process their tasks electronically, allowing them to make more-effective decisions and create alluring in-store experiences.

NSW: Investing in education technology

For educators, digital transformation isn't just students having access to computers and googling information. It's introducing young people to the increasingly advanced technological capabilities that surround them—and will be a part of their working future. To kick off our video series, we go to New South Wales, Australia, where technology is shaping the ways students learn and teachers teach. With Microsoft support, over 400,000 devices can be supported within one organization. It's geographically encompassing and developed for anytime-anywhere teaching and learning. It saves users time and money. Have a look!

Monday, August 30, 2021

Australian National University: The DNA of data and AI

Data is vital to scientific research. Without the ability to quickly process and analyze large amounts of data, breakthroughs and publications take longer. This increases administrative tasks and can even lead to projects going over budget. To avoid these pitfalls, modern researchers have begun turning to artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud-based technology, which enable the researchers to avoid the time and expense of setting up and configuring servers, leaving them to focus on their scientific goals. In this video, you'll see how researchers at Australian National University (ANU) conduct cutting-edge genome research by using Microsoft Azure to commission a data science virtual machine that allows them to instantly process large amounts of data. You'll also learn how, thanks to the data management capabilities of Azure, ANU is now able to use unprecedented volumes of data and new analytical frameworks to decrease admin time and maximize the university's research capabilities.

Build applications without breaking the bank

This brief video shows how Microsoft Power Apps can engage employees, improve efficiencies, and solve unique business challenges, all while saving money. Cut down on maintenance costs with the fully managed platform and discover the impressive ROI numbers for further savings.

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Improve your agency's collaboration, transparency, and sustainability. Get started with Microsoft 365.

To increase access to their services, governments can now literally place them in the hands of their citizens via intuitive, mobile-first applications and websites that provide greater visibility and efficiency. This approach greatly reduces citizens' efforts toward solving simple administrative tasks. This in turn allows public employees to focus more time on responsibilities with higher impacts, such as delivering services to those who most need them. Subscribe now to get the latest insights into how you can use Microsoft 365 to enable more-efficient services and build trust among your citizens.

View: Improve your agency's collaboration, transparency, and sustainability. Get started with Microsoft 365.

Accelerate developer velocity using any platform, any language, and any cloud

Teams that adopt DevOps culture, practices, and tools become high-performing—building better products faster for greater customer satisfaction. This improved collaboration and productivity is essential to achieve business goals such as accelerating time to market, adapting to the market and competition, maintaining system stability and reliability, and improving the mean time to recovery. Sign up to say connected—we'll help you learn more about Azure DevOps with GitHub and Visual Studio from Microsoft.

Accelerate your financial performance with Dynamics 365 Finance

Learn how organizations drive profitability and innovation using predictive financial insights with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance. Dynamics 365 Finance enables users to modernize their global financial operations, monitor performance in real time, predict future outcomes, and make data-driven decisions to foster business growth.

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Why smart data strategies will drive the evolution of retail

When e-commerce and online retail first appeared, many people—including some experts—speculated that it signaled the beginning of the end of brick-and-mortar retailers. For a moment, there was near agreement that physical stores were a thing of the past, but this was a misconception. As with other overblown predictions, the so-called end of retail stores didn't happen. Instead, the industry was taken over by a new breed of tech-savvy retailers that harnessed the power of digital transformation and analytics to create unified, alluring experiences for today's consumers. Retailers are still adapting to this new, digitally driven business model, but most are already reaping the benefits that the new digital ecosystem offers. In this article, you'll learn about the challenges that retailers can face in analyzing their business performance, and what they can do to improve on their data-driven initiatives.

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Leonard Cheshire supports people to live, learn, and work independently with the help of Power Apps and Dynamics 365

Leonard Cheshire is a major nonprofit that is removing barriers to independent living, learning, and working for people with disabilities. Using Microsoft Power Apps, the organization is building a complete, cohesive platform for modern, streamlined operations. After many years of disparate technologies, Leonard Cheshire staff now work on a common platform with a single view of the information they need. See their success story here:

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The most common types of healthcare fraud

The healthcare sector faces constant threats from fraud, waste, and abuse. It's estimated that $455 billion is lost every year from FWA. This informative thought leadership piece outlines the many kinds of fraud affecting the healthcare system, including false billing, upcoding, unbundling, and unnecessary services.

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Deliver a modern customer journey with Microsoft

In a retail industry increasingly dominated by Internet of Things (IoT) devices, digital transformation, and review-based shopping, modern consumers are never short of options for evaluating and purchasing their favorite products and services. While these tools foster remarkable shopping experiences, they also challenge retailers, who must become increasingly innovative in their approaches to consumer-facing solutions and strategies for process optimization. In this infographic, you'll see how Microsoft Strategic Retail Solutions can be employed during each of these stages to increase employee satisfaction and create revenue-generating experiences.

View: Deliver a modern customer journey with Microsoft

City of Houston: transportation transformation

As cities become more densely populated, local governments must find ways to provide more-accessible services to all their citizens. One way they can do this is by investing in digital solutions that allow for the creation of new services while increasing the scope and efficiency of existing services. A shift to digitized operations enables public employees to do more with less and empowers them via digital tools that broaden the impact of their actions. In this video, you'll see how the city of Houston is using Microsoft technology to enable new services, reduce traffic congestion, and help create a better future for all its citizens.

Monday, August 23, 2021

Australian National University (ANU) addresses the computing demands of genome research

As scientific research becomes more and more complex, scientists need new, scalable ways to store and analyze ever-larger troves of data. They also need unprecedented amounts of raw computing power to process the data they obtain and deliver timely results that enable projects to stay on track and within budget. To ensure that their research adheres to these restraints, modern-day scientists need to increase efficiency via automation and other approaches whenever they can, wherever they can. Artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud technology give scientists the tools they need to advance research faster than ever before, get results quicker, and achieve scientific breakthroughs like never before. In this video, you'll learn how researchers at Australian National University (ANU) are using Microsoft Azure to dramatically shorten the amount of time they spend on data analysis, enabling faster publication of their cutting-edge genome research.

Innovation for everyone

Overcome obstacles to innovation and see how Microsoft Power Apps modernizes the app creation process. Accelerate development to build apps without risk, deploy quickly, integrate data, and infuse AI. As IT moves towards low-code solutions, you can become an agile, data-first company with Power Apps. Learn how:

View: Innovation for everyone

Maturity of effort infographic

Microsoft promotes a mature view of risk analytics. This infographic details the tiers of maturity many organizations must work through before reaching an advanced degree of security.

View: Maturity of effort infographic

MPAA relies on Azure and Visual Studio to innovate and increase efficiencies

When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences maxxed-out its on-premises infrastructure, it turned to Microsoft Azure to expand its capacity into the cloud. It also leaned into Azure DevOps to improve collaboration between development and infrastructure teams and used Visual Studio to develop new streaming apps across Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and tvOS—delivering rich, responsive online experiences to its members across different devices and platforms.

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Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Enrich your customer, manager, and employee experiences. Get started with Microsoft Retail Solutions.

Effective retail solutions provide stakeholders with relevant information and insights. Whether you're building shelves that help shoppers find curated offers, apps that give insights into business performance, or work tools that empower employees to do more with less, you must also provide the data that each user needs to make better-informed decisions. Subscribe now to learn more about how you can create high-impact solutions that elevate customers' shopping experiences through the power of Microsoft Retail Solutions.

View: Enrich your customer, manager, and employee experiences. Get started with Microsoft Retail Solutions.

Create a more-productive, self-sustaining farm. Get started with Microsoft Azure AI.

As the world's population increases, farmers need to keep up with rising demand for their crops and livestock. But with climate conditions changing and resources becoming more precious, it's critical for modern farms to seek innovative solutions that allow them to upscale their production without increasing their impact on the environment. Subscribe now to learn how digital solutions powered by Microsoft Azure can be leveraged across both large-scale and small independent farming operations to increase yields and create a more-sustainable industry.

View: Create a more-productive, self-sustaining farm. Get started with Microsoft Azure AI.

What is DevSecOps?

DevSecOps is the evolution of DevOps, where developer, security, and operations teams are united around the culture of security as a shared responsibility. Sign up to stay connected. We'll help you navigate the world of DevSecOps and understand how to successfully adopt it.

View: What is DevSecOps?

What is DevOps?

DevOps as an ideal is revolutionizing the way organizations communicate and how they handle their daily work. Learn how this process brings together development and operations teams—who have traditionally been pitted against each other—and allows them to align on value and work toward a common goal.

Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Faster together: How citizens plus pros are reshaping app dev with low code

In this digital briefing, learn how IT teams are embracing citizen development within their organizations. Join the excitement surrounding low-code solutions among IT staff and explore best practices for creating teams that encourage collaboration between citizen and professional developers. Start your app journey here.

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Optimize financial operations and minimize loss from fraud

Microsoft optimizes financial operations while minimizing loss of revenue from fraud. Subscribe now!

View: Optimize financial operations and minimize loss from fraud

Reliable Electric: Power platform customer story

This case study tells the success story of Lars Peterson, a citizen developer and general manager at Reliable Electric in Canada. Teaching himself Power Apps, Microsoft Flow, and SQL, Lars built a simple but powerful app that accelerates the bidding process for electricians. Ultimately, his company replaced proprietary bidding software that cost $2,000 per seat, transforming the business and improving the bottom line. Learn how you can start saving, too.

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Dun & Bradstreet: Better decisions through data

Each day, Dun & Bradstreet receives 5 million database updates from over 30,000 global sources. This results in the world's largest commercial database, which can be used to improve business processes and make profitable decisions.

How a cloud-native approach enables frictionless, scalable security

The cloud has profoundly transformed the way organizations operate by simplifying delivery, scale, and management to drive innovation. Cloud technology also greatly empowers development teams by allowing them to shorten development cycles and re-envision the nature of business operations. No technology is without its unique challenges, though. Security and IT teams sometimes struggle with the adoption of a cloud-native approach because of the friction it can generate with existing applications, some of which lack the requirements for scalable cloud integration capabilities. Read this article to learn about the three main characteristics that network detection and response (NDR) solutions must have to ensure scalable, frictionless security and native integration with industry-leading solutions such as Microsoft Azure.

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Monday, August 16, 2021

Vision of innovation

Among the objectives of digital transformation is making information more accessible to those who need it, whether they're consumers, decision-makers, or employees. The retail industry is no exception, and businesses have taken advantage of many innovative solutions to enrich their stakeholders' experiences by using customer-facing applications and digital workplace tools. Retailers now have better insights into how their customers perceive their brands, and these businesses are able to make more-informed decisions. In this video, you'll discover how industry leader Kroger is using Microsoft technology to empower its consumers, employees, and CPG providers with unique digital solutions.

The intelligent, connected cloud introduces both opportunity and risk

As organizations embrace the opportunities presented by cloud and mobile computing to connect with customers, build remote workforces, and optimize operations, they also expose themselves to new risks. No technology is a completely foolproof, and as businesses become more and more digitized, they increase the risk of someone stealing their data or compromising their credibility. In this infographic, you'll get a glimpse of both sides of cloud technology. On one hand, it provides immense opportunities for innovation and mobility; on the other, it comes with risks that businesses must consider to safeguard the continuity of their operations in the digital world.

View: The intelligent, connected cloud introduces both opportunity and risk

Cultivating successful farming for future generations

In many regions of Africa, climate change has had a profound impact on independent farmers, especially those in isolated areas who lack proper access to running water. Dry seasons are increasingly longer and rains scarcer, making maintaining crops a bigger and bigger challenge with each passing year. For these farmers, traditional methods that were handed down for generations no longer yield the results they need to feed their families, leaving them in a desperate situation. Fortunately, modern technology and digital transformation are now able to provide these farmers with the tools they need to sustain their way of life during these challenging times. In this video, you'll learn how Monica, an independent farmer in Kenya, managed to overcome hardships brought on by climate change by using sustainable energy, accurate weather data, and Microsoft Azure.

Leverage existing talent: empower your team to develop apps

This video shows how you can enable your current team to build application solutions with advanced functionality using Microsoft Power Apps. Its visual approach is intuitive and simple, yet flexible and powerful. This low-code platform has capabilities for both citizen and pro developers. Unleash your IT team to collaborate with fully supported end-to-end, low-code development. Learn more here:

Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Mobile solutions for retailers: Off the shelf or private label?

As mobile devices became more user-friendly, media-focused, and accessible, consumers gain always-on access to the benefits of digital transformation. Such devices also provide retail businesses with the tools to create more-personalized experiences tailored to each user's unique preferences and shopping habits. But the benefits don't stop there. Retailers have realized that digital technology can be as useful for customer-facing applications as it is for internal processes, and they've started employing it to help their workers provide immediate solutions to customer issues. While mobile solutions have become crucial tools for employees, they pose a new challenge for retailers: Should they choose private-label or off-the-shelf devices? In this article, you'll learn about the pros and cons of each to help you decide which works best for your business.

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Enable accessible, secure data for stakeholders and employees. Learn more about Microsoft 365.

In the digital age, more and better data is key to making informed decisions that can have long-lasting impacts on an organization. But procuring, analyzing, and extracting insights from massive amounts of information isn't enough anymore. To truly empower business intelligence, organizations must provide every stakeholder, decision-maker, and employee with easy access to the data they need to make proper decisions and enjoy richer experiences. Subscribe now to learn how Microsoft 365 can digitize your business through secure, flexible applications that enable insights and collaboration across your organization.

View: Enable accessible, secure data for stakeholders and employees. Learn more about Microsoft 365.

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Meet the Power Apps Champions

Microsoft Power Apps empowers citizen developers to build and share custom, professional applications that solve their business challenges. In this blog, you'll see the stories of citizen developers who built apps and became Power Apps Champions.

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UFA modernizes vital retail and fueling solutions with SAP on Azure

The United Farmers of Alberta Co-operative Limited (UFA) is a prominent agriculture Co-operative that supplies a variety of services and products to its customers. UFA hit a roadblock when its on-premises SAP infrastructure began slowing productivity and creating errors, so they approached Microsoft for help. UFA migrated their SAP to Microsoft Azure in just over a month, eliminating performance issues, reducing software implementation times, and gaining scalability.

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12 things pop culture gets wrong about artificial intelligence

As societies and workplaces become more digitized, our culture does, too. This daily interaction with technology engenders fascination and speculation about the role devices and technological advancements will play in our societies' future. Some—if not most— of these assumptions are based on artistic portrayals of the future of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), and they are often far from providing an accurate representation of what actually awaits us in the realm of AI and machine learning. Read this article to uncover the truth behind 12 misconceptions about AI and get a more accurate view of the present and future capabilities of this technology.

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Fraud in the age of cybersecurity

In 2018, the World Economic Forum found that fraud and financial crime was a trillion-dollar industry-and it's still growing today. This thought leadership article highlights some startling statistics about the ubiquity of revenue loss from fraud and just how few businesses are fully protected against it.

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The virtuous cycle of retail

In business, a virtuous cycle is a set of recurring processes in which the objective of each is to increase the beneficial effect on the next. Not so long ago, the typical purchase pattern was linear. Further, it involved very few steps from the time consumers first learned about a product or service to the time they purchased it. With the arrival of digital transformation, though, both online and brick-and-mortar retailers are adapting to a new virtuous cycle, one in which personalized experiences are the norm and digital customer service tools play crucial roles in making or breaking a purchase every step of the way. In this infographic, you'll learn how digital technology has driven retail's virtuous cycle and get insights into how you can improve your customers' experiences via Microsoft Retail Solutions.

View: The virtuous cycle of retail

Monday, August 9, 2021

The main challenges of advanced analytics

Digital transformation has enabled businesses to reduce costs, streamline operations, embrace entirely new business models, and discover untapped revenue channels. Many of these benefits come from implementing data-driven technologies, including machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), that transform the increasing amounts of data produced by today's organizations into useful insights that can foster new strategies. Despite the massive potential of these technologies, only 37 percent of businesses that adopt them report successful initiatives. In this infographic, you'll learn about the main challenges that modern organizations face in implementing AI and ML, and how you can overcome them by using Microsoft Azure AI.

View: The main challenges of advanced analytics

City of Houston: Data accessibility

Making relevant information accessible to the thousands or millions of people who need it is among the top priorities of any public institution. Thanks to cloud technology and modern enterprise software, this critical goal is now significantly easier to achieve. Simply opening a one-way communication channel isn't good enough, though. Citizens also need seamless mechanisms for voicing concerns, downloading documentation, requesting public services, and obtaining assistance from public employees when they need it. In this video, you'll see how the city of Houston, Texas, has made modernization, digital transformation, and data accessibility a reality for its employees and citizens via Microsoft 365.

Samit Saini's Power Apps journey at Heathrow

This video captures the journey of Samit Saini, a security officer at London Heathrow Airport and who discovered Microsoft Power Apps. As a novice, he easily created useful, time-saving applications. Now, as a member of the IT team, he teaches others to do the same. See how Samit and Power Apps led digital transformation.

Transformation potential infographic

Microsoft has the tools, resources, and experience to help your business manage financial risk while fighting against fraud. This infographic visually represents potential vulnerabilities and explains how fraud detection serves to eliminate them.

View: Transformation potential infographic

Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Expand your offerings portfolio with innovative digital solutions. Get started with Microsoft Retail Solutions.

Merchandise and customer service have traditionally been the main focus of the retail industry's portfolio. Digital transformation now allows retailers to expand on their main capabilities and develop innovative solutions that boost their bottom line, as well as that of their partners and clients. Digital is reshaping retail into a more diverse, tech-infused industry where innovation is king and disruption creates new collaboration opportunities. Subscribe now to learn how to get the most from your existing retail applications by leveraging Microsoft technology to diversify your service portfolio.

View: Expand your offerings portfolio with innovative digital solutions. Get started with Microsoft Retail Solutions.

Tuesday, August 3, 2021

Minimize loss of revenue associated with fraud

Microsoft helps you minimize loss of revenue associated with fraud and wrongful rejections. Subscribe now to learn more!

View: Minimize loss of revenue associated with fraud

Save energy and resources with smart farming operations. Learn more about Microsoft Azure AI.

Growing populations require increasing amounts of food, so farmers must become as efficient as possible with the resources they have. This means leveraging every tool available to avoid fluctuations in yield output by powering farms with smart technologies that give farmers instant access to accurate data about their operations. From soil-measuring IoT devices to solar-powered irrigation, digital transformation technologies provide the modern farming industry with tools to power growth and increase sustainability worldwide. Subscribe now to learn how smart farming can lead to higher-yield, environmentally friendly operations and how you can get started with Microsoft Azure AI.

View: Save energy and resources with smart farming operations. Learn more about Microsoft Azure AI.

Top 10 devices you need to secure in 2020

As IoT devices become increasingly more intertwined in our modern lives, we must come to terms with the fact that each device represents a potential risk for stolen or compromised data. Cybercriminals are constantly looking for new targets to exploit, and unprotected IoT devices are an especially vulnerable way for hackers to tap into our personal and business accounts and cause major damage. It's critical for organizations to minimize potential security breaches by leveraging enterprise-grade network security and protecting employee-owned devices through secure BYOD programs. In this article, you'll learn about the top 10 devices that hackers can potentially use to compromise your business. You'll also get insights into how these devices can be shielded against prying eyes.

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Get started with Power Apps - Learn

Ready to create your first app? Learn the basics of Microsoft Power Apps and how you can make your business more efficient. Explore the different technologies and easily build an app:

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Manage risk and reduce fraud solution overview video

Global losses from fraud topped $90 billion in 2018, with related costs near a crippling $175 billion. Unreliable processes, regulation and compliance, and many more issues add even more layers of risk to your organization. With Microsoft, you can protect your revenue with predictive data and smart automation to help optimize financial operations. Watch this video to see how Manage Financial Risk and Reduce Fraud solutions from Microsoft can help save you time, money, and your reputation.

Monday, August 2, 2021

Retail as a service

Innovative solutions that increase revenue and generate industrywide disruption are the Holy Grail of digital transformation. Developing such solutions isn't simple, though. It requires accurate insights, significant research and development (R&D), and a stable, accessible platform that can make the solution easily available to partners and clients. The effort can be well worth it, as groundbreaking applications can open up new revenue streams, enable complementary capabilities, and foster long-lasting partnerships that can elevate a business to new heights. In this video, you'll learn how the Kroger Co. technology division is leading the industry by leveraging Microsoft tools to provide its own innovations as a new offering: retail as a service.

Keeping the Farmer and Farm Working

Without proper access to running water, farming can be a daunting task. Yet this is the reality that farmers must confront in some parts of Kenya. Such conditions severely limit their ability to increase their yields and secure a stable income for themselves and their family. To make matters more difficult, they also face the problem of a very short rainy season. This alone makes sustaining adequate water levels challenging, but it's compounded by reliance on wells for irrigation. In this video, you'll see how Monica, an independent farmer in East Africa, has leveraged digital transformation to overcome these challenges. You'll learn how IoT devices, solar energy, and Microsoft Azure can combine to sustain profitable farming operations, even in some of the harshest conditions on the planet.

A multilayered approach to data protection

For businesses in the digital age, cloud technology has become a key enabler of growth and innovation. But no great opportunity is without risk, and moving to the cloud also means having to secure enterprise data as it travels into and out of organizations. Today's leading enterprise cloud platforms provide organizations with the compliance and security they need to protect their data, regardless of scale or region. In this infographic, you'll learn how Microsoft 365 E5 uses a multilayered approach to protecting sensitive information and provides the insights you need to optimize your organization's security.

View: A multilayered approach to data protection

4 reasons small businesses should innovate with Power Apps

This infographic demonstrates how Microsoft Power Apps can help businesses empower their workforce, save money building apps, simplify the development process, and scale quickly without compromising quality or security. Learn more:

View: 4 reasons small businesses should innovate with Power Apps