User Review
( votes)I get admittedly jazzed about Power Apps – Microsoft’s suite of apps, services, connectors and data platform. It is truly impressive technology that provides a rapid application development environment. This allows organizations to quickly customize how they receive, process and leverage massive amounts of data at an enterprise level. Now consider 2020 and the need to rapidly move data in an ever-evolving landscape. It probably won’t surprise you Microsoft and Power Apps played a key role in COVID-19 data collection and response.
NO TIME TO WASTE
Very early in the pandemic, Microsoft developed the Hospital Emergency Response Solution, a Power Apps application that monitored hospitals’ bed capacity and key resources like personal protective equipment, ventilators and other supplies. Needless to say, this data was invaluable to the healthcare system and a multitude of other entities on the frontlines of managing the pandemic, including State and Local governments. Microsoft then developed its Regional Government Emergency Response and Monitoring solution built on Microsoft Power Apps Portal and Microsoft Power BI.
The solution gave healthcare providers and public health departments a comprehensive view of key data points like number of cases, hospitalizations, bed capacity, equipment usage, supplies, and staff – at the Local, State and Regional levels. Healthcare workers across the region could now easily report crucial data into a centralized platform. And dashboards featuring critical data could now be updated and viewed in nearly real-time.
And all this innovation before the end of May, thanks to Power Apps rapid application development environment.
WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE
The Regional Government Emergency Response and Monitoring solution features essentially a two-pronged approach. First, there is a portal for healthcare providers and regional agencies to update data like bed capacity and supply counts. Hospital administrators can also access related dashboards and reports. Next, regional users (like public health agencies, emergency responders, fire departments and regional command centers) can leverage the data – delivered via dashboards, heat maps and reports – to better understand scope, challenges and deployment needs. You can view an overview of the app at this link.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO YOU
It’s simple. The pace at which Microsoft was able to deploy such a massive, crucial, breakneck undertaking in the early days of the health crisis underscores the beautiful symbiosis between need and innovation. Almost certainly, your organization will never experience anything close to these life and death dynamics. But how exciting is it to know that, with Microsoft’s Power Apps, you have exceptional, powerful, game-changing technology ready to turn things around on a dime.
Now you know why I get so jazzed about this stuff.
By Christopher Smith, Founder & CEO of Empellor CRM.
