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Power Apps not suitable for larger organizations?

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Posted on by rcook

I'm VP of IT for a 750-employee company researching the viability of Power Apps for our organization.

Assuming we build 5 or more apps and connect to data (SQL or Dataverse), and that each employee would access the app at least once monthly, that means a Premium license per user at $20/mo/user x 12mo x 750users = $180k/yr. That's not going to happen. I can see it for perhaps a 20-person company without an IT and software development group, but not for midsize or large organizations.

And, if a large organization empowers departments with licenses and access to Dataverse (for apps here and there that serve a handful of users each), I don't see how IT can govern. For one, if there is no DBA control on the Dataverse, it will grow and become an absolute mess over time.

I realize the promise of Power Apps is a 30-50% reduction in development time, and that may be true. But I can't get past licensing and governance issues. Any feedback appreciated. Thank you.

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Governance & administering

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jukkaniiranen on at

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How many examples of larger organizations adopting Power Apps premium licenses would it take for you to change your mind? Because obviously it is happening at enterprise scale. Sure, they will not be paying the list price for licenses, but that applies to pretty much any business software across the board.

One MS sponsored research paper that comes to mind is Forrester TEI on Power Platform premium capabilities: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/blog/2022/11/28/forrester-tei-highlights-3-benefits-of-power-platform-premium-capabilities/

I think your calculation illustrates a common problem in thinking about apps vs. platform. Sure, the very first Power App with premium features will cost either $5 pupm (per app licensing) or $20 pupm. If you go for the latter, though, there's no limit on the number of premium apps that could be either built on Power Platform net-new or modernized to be Power Apps instead of legacy apps or disparate SaaS solutiosn that you pay for.

As for Power Platform governance, that's what I've been focusing on for the past 3 years. Again, it will take conscious effort in getting the processes and responsibilities in place, but what are your alternatives? If the users are putting business data into disparate SaaS apps that are either sanctioned by IT or taken into use as shadow IT - are you really in a better place?

For any organization that has chosen Microsoft 365 as their information worker toolkit, it's hard to see any other low-code product offering out there that could match Power Platform when you take into consideration both the topics that you raise up: licensing and governance. They are ultimately not the areas where MS would be lacking in comparison to other competing platforms, based on my fairly subjective view on things.

There's a very distinct aspect to Power Platform that can make it a challenge for IT leadership in particular. Power Platform "just happens" when you're using M365. You don't necessarily get to choose the platform, rather the citizen developers equipped with seeded Power Apps and Power Automate capabilities start embracing it on their own. Then one day you realize that there may already be some fairly important apps and automations running on this platform. At which stage the questions of licensing and governance start to bubble up.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: it's quite common to encounter the stage where the questions you present will get asked. And still, with 4 years of focusing 100% on Power Platform, our team has never really had to sell the product. The customers (IT, business) have already bought into the idea when we come along. The demand is massive and supply isn't keeping up. At the same time, most organizations we engage with are in very early stages of their Power Platform adoption journey. It will not happen overnight for anyone, but personally I don't think anything out there can push MS out from their Nr. 1 spot in the low-code platform market. Their investments into generative AI and the role of Power Platform in customizing the M365 Copilots will only make it harder for any other players out there to challenge them.

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rcook 11 on at

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Thank you for that thoughtful reply, jukkaniiranen. Would you entertain a 30-60 minute consult online or by phone? Not sure how to DM you via this platform, apologies.

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velegandla 204 Moderator on at

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@rcook349

I assume you are using Office 365.

If you are using Office 365, your team might have build Power Apps already.

Governance:

Step 1: Understanding the current state of ecosystem

At the beginning you might need to start with understanding the inventory of Power Platform components. This included Power Apps and flows etc.

Microsoft developed CoE starter kit can help you get started to understand the current state.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/guidance/coe/starter-kit

I have seen many people get surprised when i installed the kit for the first time.

Step 2: Core governance components
Environment Strategy -Strategy on where to build your apps and the related processes.
DLP Strategy - Strategy on how to manage the data.
Security Strategy - Strategy to maintaining the security.
Once you have the foundations then you can consider other aspects of the platform.

- Application lifecycle management
- Support and maintenance
- Platform monitoring
- Licensing strategy, and
- Training and coaching.
and more

Licensing:

Start small then expand.

You don't have to start buying licenses for everyone in the org.

This could be a gradual process and based on the value you and your team is generating then get more licenses.

Conclusion:

There are lot of success stories on Power Platform.

Below link showcase how different industries and companies got successful leveraging the platform.

https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/power-platform-stories/

Hope that helps.

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If this response helped you in any way, please give kudos by clicking the 'Thumbs Up'/'Like' button and/or marking it as an 'Accepted Solution'. This helps others by providing a quick way to identify likely solutions to their issues.

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jukkaniiranen on at

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Definitely, let's connect! After all, Power Platform licensing and governance happen to be 2 of my favorite topics.😄 If you're on LinkedIn, just send a connection request to me (mention this thread, I get quite a few cold requests...) and let's talk. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jukkaniiranen/

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rcook 11 on at

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Jukka-

Haven't been able to get free for conversation but let me ask you this:

If I have to have an IT DBA control/be gatekeeper of the Dataverse, and IT QA to ensure proper interaction with data, what's the point of arming the citizen developer? Is it to supplement business analysts, functional designers, and developers in IT with armed business stakeholders taking on those roles?

Again, I'm all for power to the people, but if I turn departments loose without IT control over data and QA, our app environment will become a chaotic mess over time. And, if I have to employee my IT staff, it then takes them away from internal work (on a VS/SQL/Azure platform I'm already paying for). Almost how me helping my wife clean actually causes her more work in the end.

Thanks again -Ron

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