Glossary Strategy & implementation

Workflow automation

What is workflow automation?

Workflow automation lets a series of connected steps, such as a request that arrives, gets checked, approved and processed, run automatically without manual handovers.

Also known as workflow automationprocess automation

A workflow is a chain of steps that together form a process: a quote that is requested, reviewed, drawn up and sent, or an invoice that arrives, is checked and booked. Workflow automation removes the manual work between those steps, so the work flows on by itself.

Fixed rules get you a long way, but many processes have exceptions. That is where AI comes in: it can read unstructured information and make decisions where a rigid script gets stuck. Combining fixed automation with an AI agent in an agentic workflow covers both the standard cases and the exceptions.

In practice, workflow automation starts with the process that costs the most time or causes the most errors. How we tackle that, with a fixed scope and a working first version within weeks, is covered under AI automation.

Last updated: 22 June 2026

Relatedterms

Read on in the glossary

All terms

AI techniqueAI agentAn AI agent is software that pursues a goal on its own: it plans the steps, uses tools or systems, checks the result and adjusts course, without a human directing every step.AI techniqueAgentic workflowAn agentic workflow is a process in which an AI agent, not a human, plans the steps, calls tools, checks intermediate results and continues until the goal is reached.AI techniqueRPA (Robotic Process Automation)RPA lets a software robot carry out fixed, repetitive actions in your systems the way a person would, clicking, copying and retyping, but automatically and without mistakes.Strategy & implementationAIOS (AI Operating System)An AIOS is an AI layer that sits on top of your existing systems, reads data from all of them at once, and runs processes that affect the whole organisation, not just the individual employee.

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