Get executive sponsorship

Getting executive sponsorship and executive leadership buy-in is one of the most important aspects of successful Power Platform adoption, especially in large organizations. Learn how to identify an executive leader to sponsor your project and understand the role and activities of an executive sponsor.

Get buy-in from an executive sponsor

Citizen developers come from all parts of your organization and don't traditionally sit in IT. Because they have "day jobs," they report to leaders who need to buy in to the transformation you're making using Power Platform. You might need to empower your citizen developers to take time from their day jobs to make apps, flows, and chatbots.

Consider how you'll get buy-in from executives, managers, and individuals. An effective method is to highlight the positive impact Power Platform could have for different stakeholders. An executive might be moved by projected cost reductions. A manager might be more motivated by the time a solution might save. An individual might be excited by the learning opportunity.

Culture change can take time, and it's important to address people's concerns, including how it might affect their part of the organization in the short term and in the long term.

Activities of an executive sponsor

Adopting Power Platform is more than just a technology project. It's important to have executive support. Although some successes can be achieved by a few motivated individuals, you're in a better position when a senior leader is engaged, supportive, informed, and available to assist with activities. These activities include:

• Formulating a strategic vision and priorities for Power Platform and low code.
• Allocating staffing and prioritizing resources.
• Approving funding, for example, Power Apps user licenses.
• Communicating announcements that are of critical importance.
• Making decisions.
• Resolving resistance on issues that can't be resolved by operational or tactical personnel.
• Supporting organizational changes, for example, creating or expanding the Center of Excellence.

Identifying an executive sponsor

There are multiple ways to identify an executive sponsor:

• Top-down: The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) might nominate the Chief Information Officer (CIO) or Head of Digital Transformation to advance low-code adoption. Having an executive sponsor at the C-level indicates that the organization recognizes the importance of Power Platform as a strategic asset.

• Bottom-up: An executive sponsor could emerge through the success they've experienced with Power Platform. For example, a department such as Marketing has accomplished great business value with the use of Power Platform. A leader in that department might then grow into the executive sponsor role by sharing successes with other departments across the organization.

  The challenge with this approach is that the sponsor doesn't have formal influence over other business units, and may experience challenges that are beyond their level of influence. Although initial successes can be achieved with a bottom-up approach, the recommendation is to seek a C-level sponsor.

Considerations

To help identify and engage an executive sponsor:

• Identify an executive sponsor with broad authority: Select an executive sponsor in a position of influence and authority across organizational boundaries who understands the value and impact of Power Platform. It's important that the executive sponsor has an interest in the success of low-code and Power Platform in the organization.
• Involve your executive sponsor: Ensure your executive sponsor is consistently engaged in all strategic-level governance decisions related to Power Platform.
• Establish responsibilities and expectations: Document the responsibilities and expectations for the executive sponsor role to eliminate any uncertainty about their duties and time commitments.
• Identify a backup for the sponsor: Appoint a backup executive sponsor who can attend meetings in the primary sponsor's absence and make time-sensitive decisions when necessary.
• Identify business advocates: Locate advocates within each business unit. Determine how their cooperation and involvement can help achieve your objectives. Consider involving advocates from various levels within the organizational hierarchy.

Maturity levels

The following table describes maturity levels to help you assess the current state of your support strategy:

Next step

Establishing a Microsoft Power Platform Center of Excellence or Center of Enablement (CoE) is a strategic move that can maximize the platform’s potential and ensure its sustainable, scalable, and secure use across the enterprise.