Microsoft has launched a new tool that is intended to enable anyone, even those without developer skills to build mobile apps.
The move is aimed at helping organizations have an open access to corporate data by making it easier for the employees to create custom apps and connect them to data sources such as enterprise applications. The unveiling of the Microsoft PowerApps was made in Brazil during the company’s Convergence Business Conference.
PowerApps will run on any device with Android, iOS, PowerApps Client and Windows 10 platforms. According to Omar Khan, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for Azure, what the company is trying to do is to make work more mobile in a way that has never been seen before. Khan says that IT lacks the necessary skills to create and deliver specific apps required by an organization. He adds in most organizations data is often dispersed, making it difficult to connect all the resources necessary for a working station.
PowerApps will allow organizations to deliver apps faster than before, connect to any device and share valuable information with clients and employees. The tool will also enable employees with nothing apart from basic office skills to build apps.
Microsoft’s broader vision is that used will be in a position to create an app using the existing templates from scratch and publish them so that anybody within the organization with PowerApps client on their device can access them.
Those with developing background may add other components such as API calls. The authentication and control of PowerApps will be done through Azure Active Directory.
Wade Wegner, the chief program manager for Microsoft Azure, showed how users can create an app within a couple of minutes and use the app to store data in an Excel spreadsheet or on a company’s SharePoint server. The data in the spreadsheet can be edited using PowerApps by anybody within an organization to suit particular needs. Wegner says that with a few clicks, an employee can wire up a workflow to make the app operational.
Microsoft hasn’t released the licensing details of their new tool as yet. They haven’t indicated when PowerApps will be commercially available either. Khan says that while they expect the tool to be sold at a predetermined price, a free version will be available so that users can create simple apps. When it’s made commercially available, PowerApps is expected to be available on a per user basis. This means that it will be only accessible to those who need to access enterprise data.