Describe how Power Platform business solutions can consume Microsoft Azure services
Microsoft Azure is Microsoft’s cloud-based architecture for providing hundreds of Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) products to customers. The Power Platform tools run on the Azure backbone and are heavily reliant on it for their cloud presence, data storage, and other resources. The Common Data Service stores its data in the Azure cloud, and the portals for the various Power Platform tools are all Azure-based cloud services.
Because it is cloud based, Microsoft Azure makes the Power Platform tools available to users at any location, using any device. Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power Virtual Agents all have mobile apps that allow users to function as both designers and consumers using a smartphone or tablet.
Describe how Power Platform business solutions can consume third-party apps and services
Aside from their compatibility with Microsoft applications and services, the Power Platform tools have connectors that allow them to access data sources from third-party applications and services. Hundreds of public connectors are available that allow users to work with data from various social media and other commercial products. The data sources accessed using connectors can be combined with Common Data Service data to create composite representations in Power BI, Power Apps, and Power Automate.
For applications or services with representational state transfer (REST) APIs that are not supported by the public connectors included in Power Platform, it is possible to create custom connectors. Administrators can create connectors using definition files based on the OpenAPI or Postman standard, for APIs that support them, or they can build a custom connector from scratch by creating a new definition.
