The Tool That Keeps Collecting Dust
Most if not all business owners have the same setup:
Microsoft 365 subscription. Outlook for mail. Teams for comms. SharePoint for files. I myself have this setup.
They pay for it every month. But only use 30% of what’s in the box.
The other 70% goes unnoticed. Unused. Collecting dust for a subscription that is already being paid for.
The tool I would like to highlight is Power Automate. This is one of the major tools that goes unnoticed.
it’s the underrated piece of software in your entire business tech setup.
What is Power Automate?
Power Automate is Microsoft’s low-code automation tool. It lives inside your Microsoft 365 subscription, meaning if you’re already paying for 365, you already have access to it right now.
No extra cost. No additional subscription. It’s already yours.
It lets you build automated workflows that connect the tools you use every day such as Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, Excel, Forms, Word, etc without writing a single line of code.
If something in your business happens repeatedly, Power Automate can probably handle it automatically.
Why do people ignore it?
2 reasons.
First → nobody talks about it. The conversation around automation tools is dominated by Zapier, AirTable, GoHighlevel, and now AI agents. Power Automate doesn’t have the same marketing machine behind it so it flies under the radar.
Second → it looks intimidating at first glance. Most people open it once, see a canvas full of connectors and conditions, and close the tab immediately. [Happened to me too, despite me being technical by nature]
That’s a mistake. Because once you understand the logic it’s remarkably straightforward.
Where I've seen it work
My experience with Power Automate started at a previous role as a Technical Business Analyst where I deployed automations for a manufacturing client.
Their problem: contracts, quoting, and pricing were all being handled manually at first. Sales teams were copying data between systems. Finance was re-entering numbers that already existed somewhere else. Errors were constant. Time was being wasted at every step.
We built and refined a series of Power Automate workflows that connected their systems together. When a quote was approved it automatically triggered the contract generation. Pricing data flowed directly from their source system into the right documents. Notifications went to the right people at the right time without anyone manually sending an email.
The result: hours saved every week. Errors reduced significantly. And the team could focus on the work that actually required their judgment instead of focusing on being data engineering experts and moving data from one place to another.
I took that same logic and applied it internally at AC Innovations. My Outlook inbox is automated. File organization happens automatically. Internal notifications run without me touching them.
3 Power Automate workflows every small business should have
1. Automatic email follow up → When a new lead fills out your contact form, Power Automate sends them an immediate confirmation email, creates a task in your to-do list, and notifies you in Teams. No manual follow up. No leads falling through the cracks.
2. Contract and document automation → When a client signs off on a proposal, Power Automate triggers the contract generation, saves it to the right folder in SharePoint, and sends it to the client for signature, all automatically. What used to take 30 minutes of back and forth happens in seconds.
3. Automated reporting → Every Monday morning (or your personalized scheduling) Power Automate pulls data from your relevant sources, compiles it into an Excel report, and delivers it to your inbox before you’ve had your first coffee. No manual data pulling. No forgotten reports.
Here’s the bigger point
Before you spend another dollar on a new software subscription go ahead open your Microsoft 365 account and look at what you already have.
Power Automate is one example. There are plenty others.
The best technology decision you can make as a small business owner isn’t always buying something new. Sometimes it’s actually using what you’re already paying for.
That’s the difference between founders who feel overwhelmed by technology and founders who feel in control of it.
Next week we’re going deeper on tech stack simplification. How to audit every tool you’re paying for, what to cut, and what to double down on.
I hope this provides clarity regarding to your current tech stack.
Thank you for reading.
- Andres