From millennials onwards, they have grown up in a world where the internet has penetrated every corner of life, from work to home.
As a result of our new connected lives, we can – and do – expect everything at a more convenient rate. Ask a taxi company for a food delivery or an Amazon bookseller for a new mop, and they will provide.
Thanks to the world going remote in 2020, most generations have caught up to the digital native way of working. Meaning more people than ever rely on apps and software to connect to each other.
So what opportunities lie within these cultural and economic changes? The opportunity – and therefore the challenge – is building software fast enough to keep up with the rate of demand.
The most legitimate solution we see is to empower businesses to build their own software without the need for developers.
To achieve this, a lot of software is working towards standardization, a process that will allow apps to communicate with fewer ‘steps’. In turn, standardization opens up the next opportunity: mass adoption of low code development.
Standardization means businesses don’t always need the flexibility afforded by computer science level coding languages. Instead, non-technical individuals can build powerful apps with low code using tools such as Microsoft’s Power Platform.
With low code, the gap between ideation and delivery is much smaller. These tools operate with a ‘drag and drop’ interface, meaning deductive and logical reasoning skills are the primary requirement, not syntax and science.
To break it down, to meet the high demand for software:
Organizations across the world are catching on and developing their own low code platforms like Google’s Flutter Flow and our favorite, Microsoft’s Power Platform.
We recently worked with a real estate brand, held back by a slow turnover of employees’ request documents; everything from pay slips to holiday documents and HR requests.
The business document contained Arabic and English text, making them too complex for any off-the-shelf solution to prepare. The complex Arabic and English processing also meant a lot of manual copy and pasting, leaving room for human error.
Previously an employee would send an email, the recipient would process it in bulk with other requests at the end of the week, sign it, and finally send it back via email. This process could take a week or more.
So we thought, how can we make the process faster and more accurate?
The company used Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations. So, we created new standardized documents in Word that could be stored in the cloud to be accessed and read by computers but were still easy to complete for staff. We then built an automation engine to process the documents within Dynamics 365.
The entire process is triggered by the employees’ email, meaning there was no required change to their behavior. And as a result, approvals went from taking a week, to just 15-20 minutes.
This sounds complex but we didn’t use a single programming language like Java or Python. All we used was the drag and drop flow-maker in Microsoft’s Power Platform.
When we train businesses to use Power Platform, we start with a real problem and we recommend you start this way too.
We teach them how to traverse the low code space while assessing their intuitive reasoning skills surrounding process flows. Then we dive into a 3 or 4-day training program that centers on solving their real business needs & honing those reasoning skills.
Microsoft Power Platform makes it possible for non-technical employees to build custom apps, automate workflows, and create reports without writing code. Tools like Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI use a drag-and-drop interface that anyone can learn. This means departments like HR, finance, or operations can create their own solutions tailored to their specific needs. Instead of waiting weeks for IT to build something, teams can solve everyday problems on their own in a fraction of the time.
Microsoft Power Platform is a suite of low-code and no-code tools from Microsoft designed to help businesses build apps, automate processes, analyze data, and create chatbots. It includes four main components: Power Apps for building custom applications, Power Automate for automating repetitive tasks and workflows, Power BI for data visualization and reporting, and Power Virtual Agents (now Copilot Studio) for creating conversational bots. These tools integrate seamlessly with Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and Azure, making them ideal for organizations already in the Microsoft ecosystem.
A citizen developer is an employee who builds applications or automates processes using low-code or no-code tools, even though they have no formal programming background. These are typically people in business roles like operations, marketing, or finance who understand their department’s challenges better than anyone. By empowering them with tools like Power Apps and Power Automate, businesses can solve problems faster because the people closest to the issue are the ones building the solution. This also frees up IT teams to focus on more complex, strategic projects.
Low-code tools can handle a wide range of departmental needs. HR teams can build employee onboarding apps or leave request systems. Finance can automate invoice approvals and expense tracking. Operations can create inventory management tools or safety checklists. Sales teams can build customer follow-up trackers. Procurement can set up purchase order workflows. Essentially, any process that involves forms, approvals, data collection, or repetitive manual tasks is a strong candidate for a low-code solution using Power Platform.
No, that is the whole point of Power Apps. It is designed so that people with little to no coding experience can build functional business applications. The platform uses a visual, drag-and-drop interface with pre-built templates and connectors that make it easy to get started. Users who understand their business process and can think logically about how data flows can build useful apps. Having some basic knowledge of concepts like data modeling or business process logic is helpful but not required to get started.
Power Automate lets teams automate repetitive, time-consuming tasks without needing a developer. For example, you can set up automated workflows to route approval requests, send notifications when a form is submitted, sync data between systems, or move files between SharePoint and email. It connects to hundreds of applications and services through pre-built connectors. Instead of employees spending hours on manual data entry or chasing approvals, Power Automate handles it in the background, reducing errors, saving time, and letting your team focus on higher-value work.
Shadow IT happens when departments start using unauthorized tools and software to solve their own problems because official IT solutions take too long. This creates security risks, data silos, and compliance issues. Power Platform addresses this by giving departments a governed, secure way to build their own solutions within the Microsoft ecosystem. IT teams can set policies, manage access, and maintain oversight while still empowering business users to create what they need. It gives people freedom to innovate without the risks of uncontrolled tool adoption.
Yes, one of Power Platform’s biggest strengths is its ability to integrate with the systems you already use. It connects natively with Microsoft products like Dynamics 365, SharePoint, Teams, and Outlook. It also has over 1,000 pre-built connectors for third-party applications and services. If you need a custom connection, developers can build one using APIs. This means the apps and automations your teams build can pull data from your ERP, CRM, or other systems, creating a unified experience without replacing the tools you already rely on.
Intwo offers Power Platform consulting services that help businesses identify the right use cases, build custom applications, and set up automated workflows. Their team brings cross-industry experience and deep Microsoft expertise to make sure your Power Platform initiatives are aligned with your broader business goals. Intwo can also train your employees to become citizen developers so they can build and maintain their own solutions over time. From strategy and setup to ongoing support, Intwo ensures you get real value from the platform without the trial-and-error of figuring it out alone.
Power Platform works for businesses of all sizes. Small businesses benefit because it removes the need to hire expensive developers for every departmental need. Large enterprises benefit because it scales easily and helps bridge the gap between growing demand for digital solutions and limited IT resources. Enterprise-grade governance, security controls, and integration with Azure and Dynamics 365 make it a strong fit for complex organizations. Whether you need a simple approval workflow or a company-wide reporting dashboard, Power Platform can handle it.
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