Power Automate for SMEs: a conveyor belt with licence questions

If your business uses Microsoft 365, you probably already have Power Automate, whether anyone knows it or not. A flow that files email attachments in a folder, or an approval (Approval means a person decides before an AI-prepared message goes outside your firm or money is spent.) in Teams: that takes an hour to build and saves a few clicks every day. That is a good start.

This article belongs to our series of comparisons: the same six questions for every tool. We read Microsoft’s information on 14 October 2026; the sources are listed at the end.

What you use today

A Microsoft 365 licence lets your people build cloud (The cloud means computers in a provider’s data centres on which programs run and data is kept, instead of on your own device.) flows with the standard connectors, up to 6,000 actions per person per day. Premium connectors, custom connectors and driving desktop programs are not included. For those there is Power Automate Premium at CHF 12.10 per person per month billed yearly, excluding VAT. If a desktop flow should run unattended, it also needs a Process licence at CHF 121.50 per bot per month.

Where Power Automate is strong

Power Automate knows Microsoft 365 from the inside. More than 1,000 connectors are ready, and approvals are built in: the person responsible decides in Outlook or Teams with one click. Desktop flows operate old Windows programs that have no interface, with mouse and keyboard, as a person would. And Copilot (An AI assistant is a chat program such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Perplexity: you write in plain language, and a language model answers.) builds a flow from a description in plain language, best in English, Microsoft says.

The framework suits many SMEs too. An environment can be created in the Switzerland region (For cloud providers, a region is the area where the data centres that process your data are located, such as the EU or Switzerland.), Microsoft does not train on your inputs without the admin’s consent, and data policies decide which connectors may appear together in a flow. If you live in Microsoft 365 anyway, you get a lot of automation here for little money.

Where Power Automate stops

• Licensing is a subject of its own. SQL Server (A server is a computer that runs all the time and provides services to other devices, such as email, files or a website.) is a premium connector. If someone starts a premium flow by hand, everyone who starts it needs Premium, unless the flow has its own Process licence. The credits for AI steps that used to be included end for new contracts from 1 November 2026; after that you pay for AI steps with Copilot Credits.
• Flows do not speak MCP (MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard for connecting an AI harness to other software and data sources.). Microsoft itself writes that Power Automate does not support MCP servers today. The open protocol through which AI uses tools is only available through agents (An AI agent carries out several steps of a defined task. A person decides before it sends anything outside your firm or spends money.) in Copilot Studio.
• Rules, not judgement. A flow follows the pattern someone built. A delivery note with a new layout, or an email with two requests, does not fit.
• Flows need looking after. If a flow is constantly throttled or keeps failing, Microsoft turns it off after 14 days. If its owner loses their Premium licence, for example because they leave the company, it slows down and is turned off after 14 days unless someone acts. Unattended desktop flows need a Windows computer that is running and a Process licence per parallel run.
• The workflow (A workflow specifies what information goes in, what happens to it and who checks the result.) stays with Microsoft. A flow can be exported as a package that Power Automate can import again. Switching means rebuilding.

Power Automate connected to our platform

The first way keeps your flows running and gives them a partner for what they cannot do. A flow calls the Jules Solutions Platform through a custom connector when a document has to be read, an exception judged or a draft written; custom connectors need Premium for the flow’s owner. Where AI should work with tools, an agent in Copilot Studio connects Microsoft 365 to the platform through its MCP gateway.

The platform reads invoices and delivery notes, creates tasks, produces documents from your templates (A template is a prepared structure, for a document, an email or a folder for example, which you only complete for each case.) and talks to systems outside Microsoft, Bexio or Abacus for example, within the agreed scope. If it cannot read a document reliably, the workflow flags it for a person instead of guessing. It sends a message to the outside or a payment only once a person has decided, and every step is in the log (A log records what a program or an AI agent did and when, so that afterwards you can trace who triggered what and what happened.).

For five people: Operator System (Operator System is our package for teams at CHF 3'500.– to 5'000.–: the shared base with workflows for the team and connected systems.) as the shared base, CHF 3'500.– to 5'000.– once, with six months of Business seat (The Business seat is one person’s access to our platform (open alpha); Pro Setup includes three months, and with Operator System it is six per person.) per person; then CHF 199.– per person per month, or CHF 169.– billed yearly. You keep paying for Power Automate as you do today.

The whole system

In the whole system, your workflows are workflows with instructions as files: in one person’s vault (The vault is a folder of your working files on your computer; we create it from the vault template.) or in the shared project repository (A Git repository is storage for files that records every change with its date and author; GitHub is a well-known service for it.), with versions and someone who accepts changes. An AI harness (An AI harness is the workspace on your computer in which AI reads files and carries out agreed steps.) works in it; we recommend Claude Code (Claude Code is an AI harness made by Anthropic: it runs on your computer, reads files and carries out steps you describe in plain language.). Workflows start with a short command (A command starts a defined workflow. In Pro Setup, we set up three to five commands for your work.), with an incoming email or on a schedule, and run on your device, on a computer in the office, on our platform or with a cloud provider, as the quote sets out.

A workflow running on a computer in the office also reaches the old database and the folder on the server, without a bot per run. We have already connected the MS Access database of a hand-built system, for example. AI agents handle parts of the work in sealed-off areas and propose changes; a person accepts them.

The platform runs on our own infrastructure in Switzerland and is in open alpha (Open alpha means the platform is at an early stage: we use it ourselves, and it changes all the time.); we run our own company on it. For five people: Operator System plus one Pro Setup (Pro Setup is our recommended package at CHF 1'490.–: vault, workflows with AI agents, first integrations, an introduction session and three months of Business seat.) per person, CHF 10'950.– to 12'450.– once, with 60 days of follow-up support (Follow-up support means that questions and adjustments by email and phone are included for 30 days (Pro Setup) or 60 days (Operator System) after handover.), then the Business seats and model usage (Model usage means accessing an AI provider’s language model. The cost is not included in the setup price.). Microsoft 365 stays your home for mail and files.

Our verdict

For workflows inside Microsoft 365 with standard connectors, Power Automate is unbeatably cheap, because you have already paid for it. Filing, notifications, simple approvals: build those there, and leave us out of it.

But once documents have to be read, exceptions judged or systems outside Microsoft reached, every flow becomes a licensing and maintenance project. Then the first way is the smallest step: your flows stay, and the platform supplies the judgement. The whole system pays off when your workflows should not hang on one licence and one person, and should also run where Microsoft cannot go.

Whether you need new software for it at all is the subject of ‘The cheapest solution might already be installed’.