Last updated: 1st May 2026
Key Takeaways
- Business apps in Microsoft 365 are increasingly used to automate everyday work, replacing manual steps, spreadsheets and inbox‑led processes with more reliable, structured ways of getting things done.
- The most effective apps target specific points of friction rather than trying to overhaul entire systems in one go.
- Silicon Reef has built a range of business apps for organisations, including mandatory read apps, approval workflows, and booking and scheduling solutions designed around how people actually work.
- By standardising data and processes through business apps, organisations create a stronger foundation for smarter automation and AI, enabling tools like Copilot and agents to add value over time.
Across IT and digital workplace teams, there’s a growing focus on reducing operational friction. Not through large transformation programmes, but by improving the small, everyday processes that slow people down.
Booking systems still sit in spreadsheets. Approvals get buried in email threads. Important updates rely on people finding the right page at the right time. None of these are new problems, but expectations have changed. Teams want faster, clearer, more reliable ways of getting things done, without adding more tools into the mix.
That’s where business apps are gaining traction.
Real-world Power Platform Success
Learn how Warner Bros. Discovery scaled low‑code development with a Power Platform Centre of Excellence.
Why Microsoft 365 is a Natural Fit for Business Apps
Microsoft 365 gives organisations a foundation to build on, rather than something new to implement.
Using the Power Platform – including Power Apps, Power Automate and increasingly Copilot and AI capabilities – organisations can build targeted, task-focused apps that sit within the flow of work. These apps handle the logic, routing and data capture behind the scenes, while giving users a simple, guided experience.
Most organisations already have the core components in place: data in SharePoint, collaboration in Teams, identity and permissions through Entra ID. Business apps can plug directly into that environment, working with existing structures rather than around them. That reduces overhead for IT, keeps governance intact, and avoids introducing another platform to support. Crucially, it also avoids creating new places for shadow processes to take root.
It also puts organisations in a stronger position to take advantage of AI. Well-structured processes and consistent data make tools like Copilot more useful – whether that’s helping employees complete requests, summarising information, or supporting decision-making.
What Business Apps in Microsoft 365 Actually Look Like
To make this real, here are five business apps we’ve helped organisations build – why they exist, what they deliver, and how they could help other organisations.
Booking & Scheduling App
The challenge
In many organisations, booking shared services – whether that’s people, equipment or specialist support – still relies on emails, spreadsheets or loosely managed calendars. That makes it difficult to manage availability, avoid clashes and maintain a clear audit trail.
Over time, teams compensate by creating their own versions of the process. That leads to duplicated effort, inconsistent data and a growing reliance on informal workarounds.
The app
A purpose-built booking app gives users a single, clear place to make requests. Behind the scenes, it pulls from trusted data sources, applies rules around availability and permissions, and uses automation to handle confirmations and updates.
Calendars and lists can store information, but they don’t enforce logic particularly well. A custom app keeps the experience simple for users while maintaining control in the background.
The benefits
- Fewer emails and manual coordination
- Clear visibility of availability and demand
- Less reliance on unofficial booking methods
How this looks in the real world
At Warner Bros. Discovery, we applied this pattern to manage 5,000–7,000 monthly hair and make-up appointments for on-air talent, including anchors, presenters and guests.
What might seem like a simple scheduling task was a constant operational challenge, previously managed through a mix of manual coordination and disconnected tools.
We introduced a Power App that allows talent to check, update and repeat bookings directly from their mobile devices.
Behind the scenes, it keeps financial records up to date, supports inventory requests from hair and make-up artists, and uses Power Automate to handle more complex scenarios like splitting bookings across multiple stylists or services.
This has brought a high-volume, fast-moving process into a single, structured system that’s easier for both production teams and artists to manage.
Operational Dashboards
The challenge
Operational data often sits across multiple systems, like spreadsheets, emails and line-of-business tools. That makes it hard to get a shared view of what’s happening and where attention is needed.
Teams often respond by creating their own trackers or reports. These quickly drift apart, creating multiple versions of the truth.
The app
An operational dashboard brings together trusted data sources into a single, role-aware view. Teams see what they need without having to navigate underlying systems or maintain their own reporting.
Standard reporting tools can surface data, but they don’t always reflect how teams actually run day to day.
The benefits
- A shared view of operational status
- Less manual reporting and duplication
- Better control over access and ownership
How this looks in the real world
Within Warner Bros. Discovery’s sports division (TNT Sports), teams needed a better way to manage and share operational data across broadcasts without relying on emails and scattered documents.
We worked with WBD to develop a sports operations dashboard, creating a single, consistent view of data related to studio setups, equipment and live broadcasts across leagues like the NFL and NHL.
The dashboard replaces a patchwork of spreadsheets and disconnected processes with a more structured, centralised approach. Teams and external partners can access the same information in one place, making collaboration faster, clearer and easier to manage.
Checklist App
The challenge
Critical tasks and sign-off processes are often managed through spreadsheets or manual checklists, covering areas like project readiness, audits, onboarding or handovers.
They’re quick to set up, but hard to manage at scale. As more teams get involved, versions multiply, updates get missed, and it becomes difficult to understand overall progress.
To cope, teams create their own tracking files, which only adds to the fragmentation.
The app
A checklist app replaces spreadsheets with a structured, role-aware experience. Tasks are tracked in one place, ownership is clear, and dashboards provide visibility across projects or workstreams.
Trying to achieve this through documents or lists alone usually leads back to local copies and workarounds.
The benefits
- Clear, shared visibility of progress and readiness
- Less reliance on disconnected spreadsheets
- Greater confidence in handover and sign-off
How this looks in the real world
In a third app for Warner Bros. Discovery, we applied this approach to post-production wrap processes across HBO and Warner Bros. Studios.
Previously, teams relied on manual checklists to capture everything needed to close out a production – from crew details and bank information to final cost sheets and outstanding insurance claims. These were managed separately across productions, making the process time-consuming and harder to track consistently.
We introduced a Power App to bring these activities into a single, structured workflow. Tasks are tracked in one place, with clear ownership and visibility across each production.
This has reduced the time spent on manual checks and removed the need for separate tracking across teams, while giving production and operations a clearer view of progress at every stage.
Mandatory Read Apps
The challenge
Publishing important information doesn’t guarantee it’s been read. In regulated or high-risk environments, email links or page views don’t provide enough assurance.
Without a clear way to track acknowledgement, teams often rely on informal follow-ups, which introduce risk and make reporting difficult.
The app
A mandatory read app presents critical content in a focused format and requires users to confirm they’ve read and understood it. Content can be targeted to specific audiences, so people only see what’s relevant to them.
Acknowledgements are stored centrally, with automation handling reminders and reporting. This creates a clear audit trail without adding manual overhead.
The benefits
- Clear, auditable evidence of acknowledgement
- Reduced compliance and operational risk
- Less manual follow-up for internal teams
How this looks in the real world
For the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE), we developed a mandatory read app as part of their move to a modern SharePoint intranet.
The app ensures staff and commissioners formally acknowledge key documents, including policies, governance papers and review materials. Users only see content relevant to them, with audience targeting shaping each experience.
Acknowledgements are logged in SharePoint, with Power Automate handling tracking and reporting in the background. This gives teams a clear, reliable view of who has read and confirmed each document, without manual chasing.
As part of the wider intranet, the app plays a central role in how LGBCE manages compliance and governance day to day.
Approvals App
The challenge
Approval processes often span documents, emails and spreadsheets. When routes vary based on value, type or risk, it becomes difficult to track progress, apply the right governance, and maintain a clear audit trail.
Teams often compensate by creating their own tracking methods, which leads to inconsistencies, limited visibility, and duplicated effort.
The app
An approval app brings structure and consistency to decision-making processes. Requests are submitted through guided forms, with approval pathways that adapt based on predefined rules.
Access is managed through Entra ID, ensuring the right people are involved at each stage. Automation handles notifications, routing and status updates, keeping everything moving without manual coordination.
All activity is captured in one place, giving teams a clear view of progress and a reliable audit trail.
The benefits
- Faster, more transparent decision-making
- Less admin for requestors and approvers
- Stronger governance without adding complexity
How this looks in the real world
At Ofwat, we applied this approach to business case submissions and approvals, building a portal using Power Apps, Power Automate and SharePoint.
The app replaces a process driven by email and disconnected documents. Business cases are submitted through structured forms, with approval routes that adapt based on the type and stage of each request.
Automation handles notifications and approvals in the background, while role-based access ensures the right level of oversight. Separate apps support different request types, all built on shared logic and workflows.
This has created a more consistent and transparent approach to approvals, while reducing the administrative effort involved for both requestors and approvers.
How Silicon Reef helps
We work with IT and digital workplace teams to identify where apps will make a genuine difference, focusing on the processes that create the most friction day to day. We don’t build for the sake of it.
That starts with understanding how work actually happens: where data lives, how decisions are made, and where things tend to break down. From there, we design and build apps that fit naturally into Microsoft 365, using the Power Platform and Copilot.
The focus is on keeping things simple, governed and easy to evolve, so apps become part of a consistent, scalable approach to improving how your organisation runs.
If you’re exploring where this could work in your organisation, a good place to start is with the processes people rely on every day but rarely enjoy using. The ones held together by spreadsheets, email chains or manual workarounds.
If you’d like to see any of these apps in action, we can walk you through real examples and how they fit into Microsoft 365 – just let us know.
See a real example in action
One of the strongest examples on this page comes from Warner Bros. Discovery, where business apps now support thousands of bookings and operational workflows each month. Read the Warner Bros. Discovery case study and see how Power Apps and automation replaced manual coordination with a single, structured system that works at scale.
