One of the most common roadblocks to occur during an app’s development is when an external developer is unfamiliar with the daily operations of his client’s organisation. 

Contrast this with the ‘citizen developer’ who has a great understanding of their businesses daily needs but lacks the fundamental coding experience needed to implement those advanced components.

Thankfully there’s an approach that can bridge the gap between these two roles and allow for greater collaboration, resulting in an effective final product that satisfies everyone involved.

This is called ‘Fusion Development’. 

Before we go into what Fusion Development is, let’s look at the people involved and how their roles are integral. 

Citizen developers

These are users with ‘low-code experience’, and whose role is to greatly understand the inner workings of their business 

This information is paramount when building software that aims to improve or automate important processes.

Professional developers

Professional developers are exactly what you’d expect, highly experienced software developers who have an abundance of wealth in many different coding practices. 

However, since they’re hired externally, they don’t always have the in-depth knowledge of your business. That can make meeting the exact needs of your people with software challenging. 

Introducing Fusion Development

Fusion development is an approach that aims to bridge the gap between these two roles as each one holds the skills and knowledge the other needs. 

Fusion Development with Microsoft’s Power Platform is an approach that aims to blend lo-code and hi-code practices. Citizen developers are granted access to tools to build front-end prototypes and fully functioning applications. For the professional developers, they’ll be able to develop and extend their capabilities with the input from the citizen devs.

In short, Fusion Development is the perfect translation tool for any organisation currently undergoing a particularly awkward digital transition.

Using a combination of the easy-to-use services within the Power Platform, organisations are able to simplify their development process, and allow users to build apps with simple, pre-built templates and a vast array of drag and drop options. 

But what are these services and how can they help?

What is the Power Platform?

PowerApps

PowerApps offer a low-code approach to custom app development, granting citizen developers easy access to a user-friendly UI that accommodates even the simplest understanding of coding languages. The prototypes built in PowerApps are just what your business is looking for and can successfully fulfil those small improvements in a cheap and timely fashion.

Power Automate

One of the most striking benefits of transitioning your business into the digital front is that you can finally automate many of those time consuming tasks. 

Power Automate allows you to easily implement fully automated workflows that save time and allow your staff to focus on their work. 

Power Virtual Agents

Need a chatbot? Power Virtual Agent is a perfect fit for you. The function works with the Power Automate service to interact with your growing customer base. Much like the rest of the services available, this is available to any lo-code users and won’t require any understanding of developer technologies.  

Power Pages

Power Pages allows users to create pre-built, and most importantly, secure websites, leaving your business the time to focus your efforts on success. 

As your business begins to grow and see significant increase in traffic, pro developers can gain access to your site and workflows.

However, the Power Platform isn’t a cure all and sometimes more complex functions are required. But not to worry, pro-developers can pick up right where you left off and focus on implementing the more complicated components needed. 

And the best part? These components can be used again by simply importing them into the Power App studio.

Through the Power Platform’s collection of tools and services, it has never been easier to manage and improve your business. This approach has so many practical benefits, there is little reason not to give it a try.

Dragging your business kicking and screaming into the digital age will always be a hassle, but through Microsoft’s Power Platform you have the capabilities to make the experience far less hectic. 

At iThink365, we make it our business to see your business make the most of Microsoft 365. 

With a simple, easy-to-use UI, users can cut development costs down, saving you time and money. And if you need your new and improved system’s capabilities  extended in any way, a pro developer can take what you’ve built and seamlessly implement those much needed tweaks.

Microsoft 365 has so many amazing tools available tucked away, which can often be a little tricky to discover. So for more tips and advice, why not get in touch with us today? Find out how we can help your organisation take full advantage of everything Microsoft 365 has to offer.

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