Managing the transition from Nintex Workflow for Office 365 and SharePoint on-prem

Exploring Nintex upgrade and the Microsoft Power Platform

Nintex or Microsoft Power Platform – what are your options?

In April 2023, Microsoft announced that it would retire SharePoint 2013 workflow, which applies to Office 365 and on-premise SharePoint, on 2^nd April 2026, recommending that users migrate to Microsoft Power Automate or other supported workflow solutions.

The retiral of SharePoint 2013 workflow has a knock-on effect on users of Nintex for Office 365 and Nintex for SharePoint on-prem, who will need to either upgrade their Nintex solution, or transition from Nintex Workflow to an alternative technology.

With Microsoft recommending migration to the Power Automate component of its Power Platform and Nintex offering an upgrade programme to move users to Nintex Automation Cloud or Nintex Automation On Premise, it makes sense to review the pros and cons of each solution.

Microsoft are retiring a product that two Nintex solutions depend on; users will have to migrate or transition to another provider.

Why jaam automation are best placed to help

Before you read what we have to say about transitioning from Nintex Workflow for Office 365 or Nintex for SharePoint on prem ahead of the retiral of Microsoft SharePoint 2013, we should let you know why our views hold weight.

A high proportion of our in-house team come from working in key technical roles at Nintex, so working with the Nintex platform is second nature. And, collectively, the jaam automation team have been using components of the Microsoft platform for decades to build both simple and complex process automation and workflow solutions.

Currently, we use both Nintex and the Microsoft Power Platform to create powerful automation solutions for our clients; every day. And we’re unbiased – we will recommend and implement whichever solution works best for the job (which may be a combination of both). When it comes to these workflow tools, we really do know what we’re talking about.

The team at jaam are ex-Nintex technical employees and experts in the Microsoft platform

The Microsoft Power Platform is low-code and free, right?

Well, kind of. Limited Power Platform licencing does come as part of an Office 365 licence, but if you need any of the premium features (and you most likely will) you will need to pay for further licencing. And it can get quite expensive.

On the “low-code” side, while very simple applications and flows can be built using a “drag-and-drop” methodology, if you don’t have technical expertise you won’t get very far building workflows with even the smallest levels of complexity.

On the other hand, you don’t have to be a technical guru to use Nintex; with a little patience, you can achieve quite a lot and pricing is tailored to your requirements with the tool. That said, it’s again wise to have expert advice on hand to save you time and effort when starting to build Nintex workflows.

The Microsoft Power Platform requires technical know-how and costs can escalate quickly

When to choose Nintex, and when to choose Microsoft Power Platform

While it’s never completely cut and dried, there are some instances where it’s easier to choose between Nintex and Power Platform, based on the functionality your workflows require.

If your workflow use case includes any elements that need to go outside of your organisation to collect information, Nintex is the front runner here. Say, for example, you had a requirement around recruitment where candidates needed to complete a form on an external website, using Nintex to capture the data and bring it back to a central repository for the next step is super easy. When using PowerApps for this type of task, it’s far more complex and can increase licencing costs to get the job done.
On the other hand, when it comes to organising data, the Microsoft Power Platform offers the most comprehensive solution. Using the Dataverse component of the Power Platform provides excellent structure, data management and extendibility, easily enabling the build of enterprise applications that fit with wider data and technical strategies in your organisation.

These are just a couple of examples of which platform might be the best fit for specific needs, and we recommend talking to experts like jaam automation to really drill down into your requirements. As a rule of thumb, however, we would say that quick, easy, externally facing workflows benefit from Nintex, and more complex architectures and data strategies are suited to Microsoft Power Platform.

Simple and externally facing: Nintex, complex and data driven: Microsoft Power Platform

On prem? Cloud? Hybrid? What’s the story there?

For many reasons, some organisations have certain systems that they don’t want in the cloud. On premise software can offer an extra layer of security and predictable cost management that provides leadership with peace of mind.

Cloud solutions are readily available whether you choose either Nintex or Microsoft Power Platform. For on-premise, the Power Platform does not have an offering, however Nintex provides Nintex Automation on Prem (formally K2).

The jaam automation team can help you navigate your software set up. If you are on-prem today and want to stay on prem, we can help you. If you are currently on prem but want to move to the cloud, we can highlight the considerations you must think about, and then get you there. Or perhaps there is scope for a hybrid of cloud and on prem for your organisation – again, we can offer guidance on areas to think about to make that work.

Speaking of hybrid, there’s actually a really good opportunity to have these two great solutions working together, if it fits with your use case. Using elements of *both* Nintex and the Microsoft Power Platform can deliver a tailored workflow solution in cases with diverse requirements. Chat to us to understand more.

With expert help, you can have exactly what you need

You have to make a change, how can you make it easier?

It’s tough when an embedded solution reaches the end of its life, forcing you to either upgrade or transition to a different technology. And with multiple opinions and instruction coming in from stakeholders and leadership, it makes it even tougher.

You may have been told that you must move to the Microsoft Power Platform, or that you need to upgrade your Nintex solution. To really understand and report back on what the best solution is for your specific requirements, talking to experts can make all the difference.

The team at jaam automation have been delivering workflow and process automation solutions using both of these technologies for many, many years. We can help you to figure out what will work for you, how much it might cost and the amount of effort required for a smooth transition to your new workflow platform.

Talk to jaam automation, experts in both Nintex and the Microsoft Power Platform

For more clarity on Nintex versus Power Platform, speak to jaam.

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