Guides for your business
AI or automation: which do you need?
The terms often appear together, but they do different jobs. The useful question is what the task needs: a fixed rule, an interpretation, or someone’s judgement.
By Max O’Sullivan
What’s the difference?
Rule-based automation follows instructions you define: when a form arrives, create a record; when a due date passes, flag a task. It still needs complete inputs, clear exceptions and working connections between tools.
AI can help with information that doesn’t arrive in a fixed format: suggesting a category for a message, summarising notes or drafting a reply. An AI-generated answer can sound convincing and still be wrong. Decide how you’ll check it before giving it a role in the process.
A workflow can use both. A rule might send a message to an AI step for a suggested category, then send that suggestion to a person for approval. Using AI doesn’t mean letting it act without a check.
One enquiry, three different jobs
Illustrative example — not a client result.
Imagine an enquiry arrives with a name, email address and a free-text description of what the person needs.
- Move the details into a shared list
- If the fields are consistent, a direct integration or ordinary automation may be enough. Check for missing contact details and existing records before adding a new one.
- Suggest what the enquiry is about
- If people describe the same need in many ways, AI could suggest a category. Give the reviewer the original message as well as the suggestion, and route unclear cases to them.
- Agree a price or make a promise
- Keep that decision with the responsible person. A draft can help them prepare a reply, but it shouldn’t become a commitment simply because it reads well.
Ask these questions before choosing
- Can we write the rule down? If the same inputs should always lead to the same action, start with rules or an existing tool’s built-in feature.
- Does the task involve interpretation? If wording and context vary, AI may be worth testing against examples with known answers.
- Can someone check the result? If mistakes are hard to notice or undo, keep more of the task with a person.
- Is the step needed at all? Removing duplicate entry or agreeing one shared process may solve the problem without either option.
Count the work around the tool
Compare the whole process: setup, subscriptions, checking results, correcting mistakes and keeping connections working. A fast draft isn’t a saving if reviewing it takes longer than writing it.
Choose one task and write down its input, expected result, exception route and owner. Then use the automation test guide to decide whether the change actually helps. If you haven’t chosen a task yet, start with what to automate first.