Mobile App Developers Grand Rapids, MI

Save 70-90% on Custom Software with Microsoft Power Apps

  • Custom Web & Mobile Apps for any size company and budget. Save up to 90% vs. traditional app development.
  • Rapid / Low Code Applications developed with Microsoft Power Apps.
  • Integrate Power Apps with other Microsoft products such as Teams, Power BI, and Power Automate.
  • App building experience in 15 industries ranging from retail to manufacturing.

Low-Code Development

The low-code approach to web and mobile business application has allowed us to help our clients transform their business through affordable custom software. Low-code development can cut development times by 70%-90% according to some estimates. A complex custom business application that would cost $50,000 with traditional development can cost as little as $5,000 to $15,000 with a low-code approach.

Low-code app development reduces the amount of custom code required by utilizing drag-and-drop interfaces and replacing standard code writing with pre-developed components and a higher-level "properties and expressions" approach. Low-code development has been around for many years. Microsoft Access is an example of a low-code, rapid development platform which allows developers to create complex database applications very quickly. In a similar way, today's low-code platforms allow for the development of web and mobile applications.

Microsoft Power Apps

Microsoft Power Apps is one of the leading low-code platforms available on the market today. Gartner places Power Apps in their magic quadrant with high scores in "ability to execute" and also in "completeness of vision". Power Apps also offers advantages because of its ability to integrate with other Microsoft products such as Teams, Dynamics 365, SharePoint, Power Automate, and Power BI.

By providing Power Apps development services to our clients, we help them realize these key benefits:

Power Apps Saves Money

Power Apps can save thousands of dollars in development costs through a low-code approach. A 70%-90% cost savings is significant, especially for small and medium sized businesses. Saving money is great, but the business impact goes beyond just the savings because most businesses will not invest $50,000 or more in a customer application. The benefits gained from such an expensive application will not be realized. Power Apps puts important systems and their strategic benefits within reach from a budget perspective.

Power Apps Accelerates Benefits

Time spent in software development is time wasted when it comes to realizing the strategic benefits from a new business application. Power Apps development accelerates the benefits by deploying your solution much faster. Many of out clients contact us with an urgent situation where they have outgrown their current systems and need a new solution to manage their business. Power Apps allows us to address these situations very quickly.

Power Apps Provides Flexibility

Just as a Power Apps application can be developed very quickly, it can also be modified very quickly. This type of agility is critical in most businesses we work with. Business requirements change over time and change rapidly. Business systems need to be flexible to respond to these changes. Power Apps provides this flexibility.

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Power Apps Integrates with other Microsoft Products

When selecting a low-code platform, Microsoft Power Apps rises to the top because of its capabilities, but also because of how it integrates with the rest of the Microsoft environment. Power Apps can be embedded in several Microsoft products including Dynamics 365, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and Power BI. This embed capability allows our clients to bring important processes together in a single location. For example, embedding a product quotation app inside of a Dynamics 365 CRM opportunity form brings all quote data together with important customer and opportunity data. Power Apps can also be connected to data throughout the Microsoft environment such as Microsoft Dataverse, SQL Server database data on Azure, or a table in Excel. Power Apps also integrates in powerful ways with Power Automate, Microsoft's workflow automation tool. For example, emails can be sent automatically using Power Automate based on actions taken in a Power App.

Power Apps Consulting Services

Custom Web Apps

The ThesisTech team works with you to clearly understand your business requirements. These requirements are then built into custom business applications that provide strategic business advantages.

Custom Mobile Apps

We use the Power Apps platform to create custom applications for any technology platform. Mobile apps allow access to key business data from any location on any device including the iOS and Android operating systems.

Power Apps Portals

Power Apps Portals are a powerful low-code platform used to extend your business processes to business partners such as Customers or Vendors. Portals can be based on a per visitor model or a per login model.

Power Apps Training

Looking to equip your own "citizen developers" to build their own apps? Our team can train your team to create and maintain their own Power Apps. Avoid costly development costs by empowering your power users.

Embedded Power Apps

An application built in Power Apps can be embedded in other business applications to improve efficiency. We can embed Power Apps in Dynamics 365, Microsoft Teams, Power BI, SharePoint, or in your website.

Automated Workflows

Custom business applications often involve the automation of important processes and workflows. Power Apps can be used to automate workflows alone or in conjunction with Power Automate.

Custom API Connector

Power Apps can be used to access external systems using API calls. This is accomplished by creating a Custom Connector that can be used by the Power App. The ThesisTech team creates Custom Connectors for this purpose.

SQL Databases

One of our favorite data sources for custom Power Apps is SQL Server databases on Microsoft Azure. The ThesisTech team has decades of experience in the design and execution of SQL databases for custom applications.

System Integrations

Through the use of Power Apps and Power Automate, custom business applications can be integrated with your existing systems to create a single source of data and improve the efficiency of your staff.

Agile App Development

Agile App development involves quickly getting working software into the hands of users for fast and continuous feedback. Power Apps is a perfect fit for this framework because of the increased speed of development.

Power Automate

Power Automate is the popular workflow automation tool from Microsoft and is part of the Power Platform along with Power Apps. We are Power Automate experts and can utilize it to enhance your business applications.

Power BI

Power BI works hand in hand with Power Apps. Power BI tiles can be embedded inside of Power Apps to provide real-time insights. Power Apps can also be embedded in Power BI dashboards to make your data more actionable.

Canvas Power Apps

There are two types of Power Apps available to developers. The first is called a Canvas App. Canvas apps are exactly what they sound like because they provide developers a blank canvas onto which you can drag and drop components in any formation to design a user interface. Canvas apps can be connected to many different data sources including SQL databases, Microsoft Dataverse, SharePoint, Excel Online, and many more. Canvas apps can be designed as a phone app for smaller mobile devices or as a table app for tablets or PC's. Here are a few screen shots of recent Canvas apps developed by the Thesis Technologies team:

Model Driven Power Apps

The second type of Power App is called a Model Driven App. As the name implies, this type of app is based on a data model. More specifically, it is based on Microsoft's Dataverse service and can only be built using this data source. A Model Driven app gives developers less control over layout and functionality than Canvas apps. The result is a more standard design in which user interface components are premade and selected based on the data model. The good news is, a lot of functionality comes along with the Dataverse data model including forms, views, charts, email functionality, document merge functionality, and more. Here are a few screen shots of recent Data Driven apps developed by the Thesis Technologies team:

Pre-Built Components in Power Apps

One of the important ways Power Apps accelerates development is to provide the developer with many pre-build components that can be used in a "plug and play" manner. As you can see from the lists below, these components range from simple data input components to advanced AI. Because Power Apps is in the cloud, other cloud services can be seamlessly integrated. Power Apps enables very advanced business applications at a very affordable cost.

Canvas App Pre-Built Components

Text and Input

Data Table/Form
Gallery List
Text Input
HTML/Rich Text
Pen Input
Check Box/Radio Button
Dropdown/List Box
Date Picker/Timer

Media

Image
Camera
Barcode Scanner
Video
Audio/Microphone
PDF Viewer
Map
Import/Export

Charts and Icons

Column Chart
Line Chart
Pie Chart
Power BI Tile
App Control Icons
Buttons
Emojis
Shapes

AI and Mixed Reality (MR)

Business Card Reader
Receipt Processor
Form Processor
Object Detector
Text Recognizer
View In MR
View Shape In MR
Measure in MR

Model Driven App Pre-Built Components

Quick Customization

Add Custom Fields
Add Custom Tables
Add/Modify Forms
Build Workflows
Create Views/Lists
Create Reports
Embed a Canvas App

Dataverse Tables and Forms

Accounts/Customer Table
Pre-Built Customer Form
Contacts Table
Pre-Built Contacts Form
Activities (Emails, Calls, Tasks)
Global Search Function
Users/Security Roles

Charts and Dashboards

Standard Dashboards
Power BI Dashboards
Column/Bar Chart
Area Chart
Line Chart
Pie Chart
Calendar Views

Document/Data Management

Excel Import/Export
Excel Merge Templates
Word/PDF Merge Templates
Outlook Email Sync/Tracking
Send Emails/Templates
SharePoint/Teams Integration
Mobile App

Power Apps - Custom Connectors

As you consider the possible uses for Power Apps, one important concept is Custom Connectors. Most online services today such as Spotify, QuickBooks Online, CRM systems, and many other websites have API's which allow applications to read and update their data. API stands for Application Programming Interface. API's are available for use by Power Apps in the form of Custom Connectors. For example, if a Power App was being developed to post expense reports directly into QuickBooks, a Custom Connector would be developed using the QuickBooks online API. This Custom Connecter is then used by the Power App to read and write QuickBooks data. The Customer Connector handles the user authentication and controls the movement of data between the online service and the Power App. As you can imagine, this capability creates endless possibilities for utilizing Power Apps in your business.

Power Apps Use Cases

How can Power Apps be used to impact your business? At Thesis Technologies, we often view business systems in two categories: Defense Systems and Offense Systems. Defense Systems are the more "common" business systems such as Accounting Systems. Every business needs Defense Systems and they tend to be quite similar from business to business. Offense Systems, on the other hand, are systems that provide more strategic benefits. Offense Systems are often custom responses to what makes your business unique and what gives you an advantage in the market. Power Apps shines in the creation of Offense Systems. Here are a few ideas:

Customer Processes

Quote/Estimating App
Custom CRM App
Mapping/Routes App
Customer Portal
Business Card Scanner
Service Request App
Event Management App

Operational Processes

Time Sheets App
Barcode Scanner App
Project Management App
Incident Reporting App
Vendor Portal
Image Processing App
Checklist/Inspection App

Financial Processes

Expense Request App
Approval Workflow App
Proactive Cost Control App
Asset Management App
Text Recognition App
Purchase Order App
Create Sales Order App

Employee Processes

PTO Request App
Candidates Portal
Employee Directory App
Scheduling App
HR Management App
Task Management App
Shoutout/Kudos App

Power Apps Case Studies

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