Legacy system modernization is an essential part of driving increased efficiency and productivity, by adapting to dynamic business requirements and facilitating easy feature enhancements. In its quest to keep users upgrade to the latest technology platforms by replacing earlier versions, Microsoft has been continuously focused on retiring old versions of its solution offerings, prompting an essential shift to migrate or transition to a new environment.
The impending retirement of SharePoint 2013 workflows by 2023 necessitates the migration of SharePoint 2013 based workflows created using SharePoint designer or the Nintex O365 Workflow App. Users have the below options to migrate their existing workflows.
- Migrate to Power Automate
- Migrate to the Nintex Automation Cloud (NAC)
Let’s look at the vast features that Microsoft Power Automate provides for Process Automation, followed by a brief overview of the Nintex Automation Cloud-which is highly suited for automating complex workflows with unparalleled ease of usage.
Power Automate
Power Automate is a part of the Microsoft Power Platform and provides a low code/no code development model with a drag-and-drop capability for automating workflows. It has a wide collection of pre-built connectors that can easily integrate with various data sources, giving the much-needed flexibility for workflow automation. The integrated AI Builder enables the development of intelligent and intuitive workflows that give accurate and efficient outcomes with modern features such as image and text detection, document automation, and the creation of pre-built workflow automation models.
Power Automate also includes the Process Advisor, which facilitates recording and visualizing automation processes, and offers guided recommendations for creating workflows. This makes it easy for developers to automate business operations, without the need for deep technical skills, making it easy and efficient to use.
Top Benefits in Transitioning Workflows to Power Automate
1. While SharePoint 2013 limits the working of flows within itself, Power Automate expands the scope with its ability to automate flows across a wide range of applications and services, with close to 200+ built-in connectors. This convergent feature of Power Automate makes it a viable option for businesses that have a technology stack with multiple platforms.
2. Power Automate integrates with the entire Microsoft 365 landscape, and with external applications such as WordPress, Zendesk, and many more. This is useful for businesses that primarily run on the Microsoft technology platform and have other applications for various business requirements.
3. Simplified collaboration by integration with Microsoft Teams makes it easier to share and work together.
4. Supports multistage approval process for workflows, configured as per business processes. The approval process can involve single, sequential, or parallel approvals.
5. Ability to create custom connectors to integrate with third-party APIs. This is very useful in connecting to legacy applications and data sources.
6. Easy integration with Dataverse and Adaptive Cards, giving a platform agnostic way to display and share information coded in a JSON format. This does away with using conventional HTML and CSS formats for information exchange.
7. Power Automate is the complete solution for workflow orchestration. Microsoft has been heavily investing in enhancing its features, with many capabilities planned in the future. This makes Power Automate the focal point for migrating workflows from SharePoint 2013 and getting the intended benefits for your business operations.
8. Power Automate enables the creation of a wide range of workflows as outlined below.
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- Cloud Flows
- Automated Workflows- triggered by a specific event
- Instant Workflows-repetitive tasks triggered from anywhere at the click of a button
- Scheduled Workflows- These are time specific, such as a daily data upload
- Desktop Flows-Deployed on local machines, desktop flows enable data organization, extraction, and for building automation.
- Business Process Flows: Business Process Flows define a sequence of stages and steps in an operational process for the desired outcome. They can be a part of sales, support, and service offerings. Business process flows offer a customized view to each of the users, as per their access levels.
9. Power Automate simplifies business process automation, with a standardized approach that ensures data accuracy and faster operations. This drives better customer and user experience by leading to efficient outcomes.
10. Included Artificial Intelligence capabilities enable smarter automation, driven by ease of usage with a low code/no code development model.
For Businesses looking to move to Power Automate from SharePoint 2013 flows, the Microsoft Workflow 2013 assessment tool is a preferred choice to begin the exercise. The tool identifies the current 2013 workflows in the system, along with usage parameters, and gives a Power BI report that gives insights into the flows that require a migration.
When compared to SharePoint 2013 workflows, Power Automate offers a wide range of features designed to simplify automation, making it extensible, and easy to develop and deploy. It includes desktop, web, and cloud-based platforms, which suit custom business requirements.
Nintex Automation Cloud (NAC)
The Nintex Automation Cloud (NAC) scores high on automating simple to complex workflows with a low code/no code approach, suiting all levels of automation requirements. It includes the below features that make it a preferred platform for diverse automation requirements, across varying business functions such as Sales, HR, Finance, and Production, amongst others.
- Rapid workflow automation using a drag-and-drop canvas, making it a viable tool for automation even by novice users.
- Simplified connectivity to third-party cloud-based applications such as Google, Salesforce, and other systems of record with pre-built connectors.
- Nintex DocGen®-which automates document generation for contracts, invoices, and many more business documents with just a few clicks. Nintex Automation Cloud also includes eSignature for the electronic signing of documents and facilitates easy sharing.
- Wide range of Nintex Connectors and Xtensions that help easy connection to third-party applications. The suite also integrates with Mailchimp and Postmark, for marketing-specific workflow creation, along with easy visibility of form data with Nintex Analytics.
Nintex Automation Cloud (NAC) enables easy automation of complex workflows, such as non-sequential processes, where activities get executed in any sequence- before the trigger of the next stage of the workflow. It also supports State Machines, with activities executed by multiple parties in synchrony with the process flow.
Choosing between the two technology platforms will be a daunting task that needs to factor in a host of considerations. Here’s how you can make the right choice.
Complexity: While Power Automate offers a multitude of benefits that make it a preferred choice for migrating 2013 workflows, the Nintex Automation Cloud is a better choice for complex workflows that cannot easily automated in Power Automate.
Licensing costs: With the Nintex Automation Cloud, high licensing costs are a major factor, making users limit their usage of the platform, or make a move towards Power Automate.
For businesses running on SharePoint 2013 workflows, now is the time to get started for the leap towards Power Automate or the Nintex Automation Cloud, as 2013 flows end their lifecycle The above-outlined capabilities of Power Automate and Nintex Automation Cloud will help you choose the platform of choice for your business requirements, ensuring seamless automation of operational processes, along with flexibility, security, and scalability.
