Most small and medium enterprises (SMEs) run their entire business on a fragile web of Excel spreadsheets, endless email chains, and WhatsApp messages. It works until it doesn't — usually when someone accidentally deletes a column or forgets to hit "Reply All."
If you are already paying for Microsoft 365, you have access to Power Apps, a platform that lets you turn those messy spreadsheets into actual, functional applications. And the best part? You don't need to be a developer to build them.
Here are the 5 Power Apps every SME should build today to stop the spreadsheet madness.
1. The Employee Onboarding App
The Problem: Onboarding a new hire involves HR emailing IT for a laptop, IT emailing Facilities for a desk, and the manager emailing HR to ask where the laptop is.
The Power App Solution:
Create a simple Canvas App connected to a SharePoint list. When HR adds a new employee, the app automatically triggers Power Automate flows that send tasks to IT, Facilities, and the hiring manager.
Everyone sees the same dashboard. Nothing gets lost in email.
2. The Leave Request & Approval App
The Problem: Managing annual leave via email or paper forms is a nightmare for payroll and causes endless disputes about how many days someone has left.
The Power App Solution:
Microsoft actually provides a free template for this right inside Power Apps called "Leave Request."
- Employees can see their balance and request time off from their phone.
- Managers get a notification in Teams to approve or deny.
- The data is logged automatically in a central database.
You can deploy the template in about 15 minutes.
3. The Expense Claim App
The Problem: Staff hoarding receipts for a month, taping them to a piece of paper, and handing them to finance.
The Power App Solution:
Build a mobile-friendly app where staff can take a photo of their receipt the moment they get it.
- Use the built-in AI Builder component to automatically extract the total amount, date, and merchant from the receipt photo.
- The employee reviews the extracted data, categorises it, and hits submit.
- Finance gets a clean, digital list of expenses with the receipts attached.
4. The Inventory/Asset Checkout App
The Problem: Nobody knows who has the company projector, the spare pool laptop, or the keys to the company car.
The Power App Solution:
Create an app that acts as a digital sign-out sheet.
- You can use the mobile app to scan barcodes or QR codes on your equipment.
- When an employee scans an item, it assigns it to them in the database.
- You can add a Power Automate flow to email them a reminder if they haven't returned it after 48 hours.
5. The Site Inspection/Audit App
The Problem: Field workers filling out paper clipboards, driving back to the office, and someone manually typing that data into Excel.
The Power App Solution:
A mobile Power App that works offline.
- Field workers can tick boxes, add notes, and take photos directly within the app.
- The app captures their GPS location automatically.
- When they get back to an area with signal, the app syncs all the data back to SharePoint or Dataverse instantly.
Where Do You Store the Data?
The biggest mistake beginners make with Power Apps is storing the data in Excel. Don't do it. Excel locks the file when someone is using it, which breaks the app.
Instead, use SharePoint Lists for simple apps, or Dataverse for complex ones. They are built to handle multiple users reading and writing data at the same time.
Want to Skip the Build Process?
Building these apps takes time, even without code. If you want to jump straight to having a fully automated business, I've packaged my best automation workflows and governance templates into one bundle.
Get the Complete Microsoft 365 Automation Bundle ($39)
It includes ready-to-use Power Automate flows, SharePoint configurations, and the exact templates I use to automate businesses.
What is the worst spreadsheet currently running your business? Drop it in the comments!
