Access Alternative: Why companies are switching to Power Apps

Microsoft Access is a solid database tool that's been around for decades. Many organisations have worked with it for years. For small teams and manageable databases it works fine. But at some point, some organisations run into limits.

People today work from home, on the road, at client sites, or across different locations, and teams keep growing. External partners often need access to certain systems too. And people increasingly work from a mobile phone.

Access was designed in a different era, one where everyone sat at a fixed office computer. As a result, many organisations quickly run into the limitations of Microsoft Access. A few examples:

• Access is only accessible on Windows computers: Access only runs on Windows. Not on Mac, not on tablets, not on smartphones. Colleagues can only reach the database from a Windows computer, in the office or via a complicated Remote Desktop connection. Giving external partners access? That requires VPN connections and time-consuming management.
• Slowdowns with multiple simultaneous users: With a small team, everything runs smoothly. With larger numbers (over 10-20 concurrent users), the application becomes noticeably slower. That's because Access is a file-based system, not a true server database.
• No mobile capabilities in Access: Employees want to view or enter data on the go. In the warehouse, at a client's site, or from home. But Access has no mobile app. You have to log in via Remote Desktop, which is cumbersome and data-heavy. Access simply wasn't designed for real mobile work.
• 2GB database limit: Every Access database has a maximum capacity of 2GB. For some organisations that's plenty. For others it means splitting data across multiple files or migrating to a larger database such as SQL Server.
• Maintenance is complex: The application has been running for years. The original builder is gone. The structure has grown over time. Now something needs to be changed or added, but no one knows how. Modifying an Access application keeps getting harder, more time-consuming and riskier.
• (Older versions) Access end of support: Some versions of Microsoft Access are still being developed further. Microsoft 365 Access regularly gets updates and new features. But for older versions of Access from before 2019, that's no longer the case; these are no longer supported by Microsoft. Versions of Access released after 2019 will also reach end of support in the coming years.

The alternative to Microsoft Access: Power Apps

Power Apps is Microsoft's modern way of building business applications. It runs in the cloud. That means: no servers in the office, no complicated installations. You build an app and everyone added as a user can access it.

Working from the cloud
Power Apps runs in the cloud. That's the key difference with Access. Your app isn't sitting on one computer. It's online. That means:

• Employees can work anywhere, at home, in the office, on the road
• You give people access with a few clicks
• External partners can safely collaborate without VPNs or extra servers

Security is handled through Microsoft Entra ID (the new name for Azure Active Directory). So you only need to add an email address to give someone access.

No limit on the number of users
Microsoft Access slows down with a lot of active users. Power Apps doesn't. The app can handle hundreds of people at once. It doesn't matter whether 5 or 50 people are working in it. The app stays fast. Why? Because Power Apps runs on modern cloud technology. Everything is built for large numbers of users.

Automate processes
You can even automate processes with Power Automate within Power Apps. That's a tool that's part of the Power Platform. With it you can, for example:

• Automatically send an email when someone fills something in
• Notify a manager when approval is needed
• Copy data to other systems
• Automatically generate documents

Simply usable on your phone
Power Apps has a mobile app. You download it from the App Store or Google Play Store. You log in and see all your apps. Simple, but you can also work via the browser on your phone. The apps are built to work well on mobile phones: large buttons, clear screens and easy to fill in.

A real-world example: contract management from Access to Power Apps

One of our clients had a contract management system in Access. The system had been running for 8 years. It contained hundreds of contracts. But the problems were piling up. The application was:

• Only reachable from the office
• Slow with multiple users
• Difficult to modify
• Unusable on mobile phones

We replaced Access with Power Apps. Step by step. Here's how we approached it:

Step 1: Screens rebuilt
All forms and overviews from Access were rebuilt in Power Apps. More modern, clearer and easier to use.

Why this is easier in Power Apps: Access is a desktop-first tool, so forms mainly work well on a PC. Power Apps is fully web-based and therefore directly usable in browser, tablet and mobile. This makes Access feel outdated by comparison.

Step 2: Processes automated
Manual work was automated. When a contract is about to expire, a notification is automatically sent to the right person.

Why this is easier in Power Apps: Through the app you can set up simple alerts. But more complex business logic is possible too. Then you use Power Automate to build out that logic step by step. Think of multi-step approval processes, sending reports, or synchronising data between systems.

Step 3: Data migrated
We moved the data to a SQL Server. That server sits at the client's own location (they wanted to keep their data on their own servers). Power Apps connects to it via a secure connection.

Why this is easier in Power Apps: Is your database well set up? Then you can connect seamlessly to the existing database with all the benefits of Power Apps. You can then renew the front-end without needing to change the database. That saves an enormous amount of work. Your existing data simply stays where it is.

Step 4: New features added
We added new functionality that isn't possible in Access:

• Approving contracts from your phone
• Automatic notifications when action is needed
• Connections with other systems

Why further development is easier in Power Apps: The great thing about Power Apps is that Microsoft is constantly adding new functionality. Think AI capabilities, better integrations, and new controls. Your app automatically benefits from this. With Access (except Access 365), you have to wait for a new version to come out and then upgrade yourself. With Power Apps, this happens automatically, without your app breaking.

The result? Employees can now work from anywhere. The app is fast. And adding new features is much easier than before.

Switching from Access to Power Apps?

Access was designed in a different era. An era when everyone sat in the office, at fixed computers. That doesn't mean it's unusable. But it does mean some organisations run into limitations that no longer fit how they work today. Is this the case for you too? Then replace your Microsoft Access applications with Power Apps and make your application future-proof.