Unlocking the power of AI and Low-Code: How Microsoft Power Platform is Transforming APAC Workforces

Artificial intelligence (AI) is clearly one of the century’s most consequential global developments. In the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, where dynamic economies are adopting AI at breakneck speed, the move to smarter technologies offers powerful prospects for growth. According to a report by Google AI Opportunity Fund (2024), AI could add as much as USD 3 trillion to regional GDP by 2030, creating immense growth potential for the economy.  

The influence of AI on the workforce pertains to three areas: 

1. Transformation: AI-driven automation will impact the retail, marketing, finance, manufacturing, and automotive industries. These sectors embrace reskilling, which enables the workforce to undergo a shift within the industry and provide a new skill set critical for the future. 
    
2. Adaptation: AI is programmed to enhance human output, but not to eliminate it. That human-technology interface augments adaptation in efficiency, leadership, and addressing multi-layered underserved needs and communities.  
    
3. Access: It focuses on equitable AI, which encompasses inclusive skilling and the application of anti-bias criteria within the framework of AI technologies. This promotes opportunity while empowering various groups which leads to just and sustainable growth. 

According to a recent report, 84% of the APAC region’s workforce lacks sufficient time or energy for their work, underscoring the urgent demand for AI tools that lighten the load. Another report suggested that AI adoption could contribute $3 trillion to APAC GDP by 2030.  

Considering the rise in the use of AI-powered tools today, developers aren't the only ones building business apps anymore. Your finance analyst, HR manager, and operations lead, are also creating AI-powered solutions in days and sometimes hours, especially with the rise of low-code and no-code development suites like Microsoft Power Platform that support app creation, workflow automation, data analysis powered by AI.  

The suite allows non-technical professionals to build and customise business applications without extensive coding knowledge. Every month, Microsoft Power Platform empowers 25 million users worldwide, with its robust platform for developing intelligent, high-performance applications that keep pace with modern users’ expectations. 

What is Microsoft Power Platform? 

Microsoft Power Platform is a low-code development suite that allows users to build customized applications without deep programming knowledge. With five powerful tools—Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI, Power Pages, and Copilot Studio—the suite helps businesses automate workflows, visualise data, and develop powerful applications, all with little to no IT dependency. 

 1. Power Apps 

Power Apps enables businesses to create custom apps that connect easily with Microsoft 365, Azure, and hundreds of external data sources, making it flexible, scalable, and enterprise-ready. What truly sets Microsoft Power Apps apart is its deep integration with powerful AI platforms, transforming the way organisations build and use business applications.  

By leveraging the power of AI Builder and Copilot, users can effortlessly create apps using natural language prompts, significantly reducing development time and making app creation more intuitive even for those without technical expertise.  

 2. Power Automate 

Power Automate helps businesses by streamlining operations through automation of complex workflows, such as document processing, approvals, and data extraction from forms, to boost efficiency and minimize manual effort. According to a report by Microsoft's 2025 Work Trend Index, 53% of APAC business leaders are already leveraging AI agents to fully automate key processes, the highest proportion globally, and 7% ahead of the world average.  

Workforce planning leaders are adopting Power Automate to streamline HR tasks and enhance strategic value. These tools enable continuous monitoring of employee performance, ensuring data for reviews is ready in advance. They also help create personalized development plans and schedule meaningful manager-staff check-ins. Additionally, AI automates engagement and exit surveys, allowing HR to quickly identify and act on valuable trends. 

  3. Power BI 

Power BI is a tool that provides businesses with powerful data visualization capabilities, enabling users to turn data into actionable insights. Its integration with Azure Cognitive Services brings advanced AI capabilities like sentiment analysis and real-time insights into everyday processes, empowering employees to make faster, more informed decisions. This democratization of AI means it’s no longer limited to data scientists, and any business user can harness its power.  

For organizations across the APAC region, this fusion of low-code development and AI unlocks faster innovation cycles, enhances productivity, and ensures that solutions are built with governance, security, and scalability at their core.  

 4. Power Pages 

Power Pages enables businesses to easily build secure and scalable web applications that automatically fit for all platforms. Its intuitive interface allows developers and non-developers alike to create rich, interactive, and customizable web pages without needing extensive coding knowledge.  

The tool is ideal for organisations seeking to improve user engagement, streamline customer interactions, and enhance their online presence with custom-built solutions. 

 5. Copilot Studio 

Co-pilot Studio is an innovative tool that utilises AI to assist in app creation. By allowing users to interact with the platform through natural language prompts, Co-pilot Studio simplifies the app-building process, making it more accessible to non-developers. 

This AI-powered assistant significantly reduces development time, enabling businesses to quickly deploy custom solutions with minimal effort while managing their data securely. Its deep integration with AI Builder ensures that users can automate workflows and tasks effectively, boosting business productivity. Through AI agents, businesses can maximise impact across websites, social media channels, business apps, etc.  

The business case: Why it works 

Organisations across APAC are already leveraging tangible benefits by integrating power platform suite in their existing systems. 

1. Westpac (AU/NZ) equipped over 15,000 employees with Power Apps access, leading to the development of more than 1,000 business apps, significantly reducing IT backlog and time to deployment. 
    
2. Coca-Cola beverages Vietnam integrated Power Apps with their SAP system to streamline onboarding, boosting operational speed and improving new hire experience. 
    
3. Telstra, Australia’s leading telecom provider, launched a Center of Excellence (CoE) to empower employees as citizen developers while maintaining IT governance. 

These stories show that the suite is not only scalable but also adaptable to regional needs and enterprise complexity.  

Microsoft Power Platform is driving real impact across APAC 

According to a report by PWC (2024), 97% of APAC CEOs are reinventing their businesses amid tech disruption. Whereas, 55% of APAC organizations view low-code/no-code as essential for future automation. This widespread adoption underscores the growing reliance on AI-powered tools to stay competitive in the evolving digital landscape. 

Consultancies like Forrester have also found that businesses using tools like Microsoft Power Apps and Microsoft Power Automate experience a significant reduction in time in everyday processes. For instance, app development time was cut by 50%, and organisations automating complex processes saved 12% annually. These figures emphasise how low-code platforms are driving productivity gains across every business function, not just IT. 

How to Leverage AI Solutions for Immediate Business Impact 

Power BI in Action 

One of the most valuable integrations in this ecosystem is between Power Apps and Power BI; Power BI enables organisations to pull insights from live business data, visualise trends, and make smarter decisions. When embedded within Power Apps, it turns passive dashboards into interactive tools that drive action faster. Add Microsoft’s Copilot to the mix, and users can now ask natural language questions, get summaries, detect anomalies, and generate real-time narratives directly inside their reports. This seamless interaction enables more proactive, data-driven cultures across APAC industries. 

Citizen developers: The rise of the empowered workforce 

Microsoft’s “citizen developer” approach is helping organizations upskill their workforce, reduce dependency on IT, and spark innovation from the ground up. In APAC, businesses like Telstra and Komatsu Australia are implementing CoEs to train employees in adopting low-code platforms. This not only speeds up solution delivery but also empowers employees to take ownership of problems and solutions alike. It’s a win-win: IT remains in control through governance tools, and business units can respond faster to real-time needs. 

Governance, Training, and Scale: A strategic adaption to Microsoft Power Platform 

Adopting the Microsoft Power Platform suite is not a simple plug-and-play process; true success requires a strategic and well-structured implementation approach. This begins with establishing a Center of Excellence (CoE) to set clear standards, best practices, and governance frameworks ensuring development aligns with business objectives. Equally important is continuous training for business users, as it empowers teams to fully leverage tools like Copilot and AI Builder for effective problem-solving.  

Many organizations start with small pilot projects to test and refine approach before scaling, integrating these efforts with Power Business Intelligence to turn data into actionable insights. Strong governance and security measures are essential to foster innovation while maintaining compliance and managing risks.  

Companies that adopt this structured methodology, often with the expertise of Microsoft partners or consulting firms, achieve faster time-to-value, broader adoption, and sustainable long-term success.

The future of work is low code + AI 

To satisfy both technical and ethical requirements, organisations need to scale the Microsoft Power Platform suite alongside Copilot and AI by fortifying infrastructure, forming strategic partnerships, upskilling talent, and championing shared innovation. For firms in the early AI journey across the APAC region, the strategic selection of cloud platforms with native AI services is essential, and collaboration with ecosystem partners becomes critical in co-developing industry-specific solutions that drive both growth and responsible innovation.  

Whether you’re in telecom, banking, logistics, or the public sector, the Power Platform suite can help you build smarter, faster, and more efficiently. This isn’t just about tools. It’s about empowering every person in your organisation to become a problem solver. The combination of Microsoft Power Apps and AI platforms, alongside Power Business Intelligence, is not just transforming work; it’s redefining who gets to innovate. 

The question is no longer whether you should adopt low-code and AI, but how fast you can get started to get maximum benefits.