Microsoft Cloud · Custom layer

Microsoft Power Platform partner — the custom layer on your Microsoft stack.

As a Microsoft Power Platform partner, we build the custom layer that standard software doesn't cover: if Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Dynamics 365 are the foundation, the Power Platform is the floor above — what turns your processes from off-the-shelf into your own solution, without forcing you to build an in-house software department.

Five tools, one data model — Dataverse as backbone 1,000+ connectors to SaaS and legacy Microsoft Partner Our own productized solutions on the platform

Five tools, one data model

Power Platform — the components at a glance.

Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI, Power Pages — all four sit on the same data model: Microsoft Dataverse. That is what makes the platform strong. You build the model once, and everything else draws from it.

Decision question

When is Power Platform the right answer — and when isn't it?

We don't sell the platform to everyone. Here's the honest take, based on 20+ years of Microsoft and custom-engineering experience.

Power Platform fits when …

  • You're already running Microsoft 365 or Microsoft Dynamics 365 and don't want to fragment the data ecosystem.
  • Your requirement maps cleanly to a relational data model — applications, approvals, service tickets, master data.
  • You want business departments (citizen developers) to make small adjustments later on their own — without calling in developers each time.
  • You depend on connectors to standard services: SharePoint, Outlook, Teams, SAP, Salesforce, Dynamics, SQL, Oracle, ServiceNow.
  • Time-to-value matters: first working app after 2–4 weeks, not after 6 months.

Custom software (Independent Engineering) fits when …

  • Your application must live outside the Microsoft world — own hosting, own cloud, no Microsoft-stack lock-in.
  • The UX is highly specific: B2C apps with millions of end users, real-time applications, embedded systems.
  • Platform license costs become uneconomical for your user count — typically once you have many thousands of external end users.
  • You need full control over the database schema, performance tuning, and deployment, without the Dataverse abstraction.
  • Vendor lock-in is a risk you deliberately want to avoid — migrating out of Power Platform is not trivial.

View Independent Engineering →

In practice, the answer is often both: Power Platform for Microsoft-adjacent business processes, Independent Engineering for what goes beyond. We're one of the few firms in the DACH region that masters both worlds under one roof — and can therefore give you an honest opinion on what belongs where.

What we deliver

Five delivery building blocks on the Power Platform.

We come from the Microsoft advisory world — so we see Power Platform not as a toy, but as a serious engineering tool. The following five building blocks outline what we help you with.

01

Custom apps

Employee apps that capture exactly one process cleanly — without bloated standard software. Canvas app for shift booking, model-driven app for application processing, mobile field-service app on tablet and phone.

Power Apps
02

Process automation

Approval workflows, system-to-system sync, onboarding automation, reminder logic, RPA for legacy UIs without APIs. With error handling that works in production — not just in the demo.

Power Automate
03

BI dashboards

Sales forecasts, service KPIs, finance dashboards, operations reporting. Data model, DAX logic, dashboard design, distribution. Embedded in Microsoft Dynamics 365 or as a standalone workspace app.

Power BI
04

External portals

Customer self-service portals, partner portals, application portals, public directories. Live connection to Dataverse — what's entered in the portal is immediately in the CRM. No nightly ETL job.

Power Pages
05

Custom integrations

Interfaces to SAP, Oxaion, NAV, Salesforce, ServiceNow, in-house ERPs. Power Automate for the standard cases, custom connectors for proprietary APIs, plug-ins for synchronous logic directly in Dataverse.

Independent Engineering
06

Data platform

Dataverse schema, security model, plug-in logic, REST/OData API for third-party systems. The foundation the other four Power Platform tools sit on — and therefore the most important architectural step.

Dataverse

License models

What Power Platform actually costs.

Microsoft has reworked the Power Platform license model several times, and it isn't trivial. Three models drive your bill today:

  • Per-app plan — roughly €5 per user per app per month. Makes sense when employees only need a single Power App, like a vacation-request app.
  • Per-user plan — roughly €20 per user per month. Unlimited apps and flows per user. The economical choice as soon as someone works with three or more apps.
  • Pay-as-you-go — consumption billing via Azure subscription. Useful for sporadic users or external end users where you don't want a monthly license commitment.

On top come premium connectors (for SAP, Salesforce, ServiceNow, custom HTTP APIs), which aren't included in standard Microsoft 365 licenses. Power BI Pro is licensed separately (from ~€10/user/month); Power BI Premium as a workspace license with embed rights costs per capacity from ~€5,000 per month. Power Pages bills per authenticated or anonymous end user.

We also run our own tool you can use to model your license landscape cleanly — the License Cost Calculator. In an initial conversation we're happy to walk through which model fits your situation.

Pricing notice: Microsoft adjusts list prices regularly (currency adjustments, NCE updates, plan restructurings). Figures here are indicative values from May 2026. For current prices including arades CSP conditions, see the License Cost Calculator (licenses.arades.de) ↗ daily.

Detail page · all license models side by side

Power Platform licensing, pricing, cost & discounts

Per-app, per-user, pay-as-you-go, premium connectors, Power BI Pro/Premium, and Power Pages — every model on a dedicated detail page with calculation examples, discount paths, and attach strategy.

Detail page: licensing, pricing & cost

30-min initial conversation

Which Power Platform tool fits your task?

30 minutes to get acquainted, scope your need, and get an honest assessment — even if the answer turns out to be "custom software" or "Microsoft Dynamics 365 standard."

Accompanying services

What typically runs alongside this engineering work.

Engineering projects rarely stand alone — license logic, architecture clarification, quality gates, knowledge transfer, and follow-on operations usually run in parallel. Below are the most common accompanying services we add via discovery spikes, fixed-price sprints, or application-care contracts.

Before · Architecture

Advisory & Architecture

Before implementation: tenant structure, data model, security concept, integration mapping. The result is an architecture document any engineering team can continue working with — even one other than us.

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Before · CSP

License Advisory & CSP

Which license bundles for which users, which add-on SKUs are necessary, where you're over- or under-licensed. Sourced as a Microsoft Licensing Partner — with the option to use CSP purely for control without margin maximization.

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During · Quality gate

Project Assurance

Independent second opinion during an active implementation project — whether we run it or another partner does. CMMI-based quality gates, risk reviews, fixed price per gate.

During · Adoption

Training & learning program

Not the classic 2-day workshop forgotten after a week — but a dynamic learning program over 4–6 weeks with initial training, application phases, and follow-up sessions. Training matrix for roles and topics.

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After · Operations

Application Care

After go-live: a plannable application-care contract with a monthly flat rate, SLA-based. Includes releases, hotfixes, extensions, tenant hardening — and continuous accompaniment instead of mere ticket response.

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After · Knowledge

Knowledge Recovery

When the original developers are gone, the previous partner is no longer reachable, or the documentation is stale — reverse engineering of the existing solution with a documented result: code map, data model, customization inventory.

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Strategy background · arades topic page

One database for all business apps — Dataverse instead of island solutions

Why we consistently build all our apps and recommendations on a single data foundation — and when the island solution is still the better answer. 2,500 words on architecture, migration paths, and honest boundaries.

Read topic page →