What are automation tools like Zapier, Make and n8n, and where does AI fit?
Written lesson · about 3 minutes to read
The short answer
Zapier, Make and n8n connect your apps with little or no code: when something happens in one, such as a new enquiry, they act in another, such as adding a job. AI fits as one step in that flow, like sorting an email or drafting a reply, and a person checks anything that reaches a customer or moves money.
Three things to remember
- 01Automation tools connect your apps: when something happens in one, they do something in another.
- 02AI fits as one step inside a flow: sorting, pulling out details, drafting or summarising.
- 03Flows break when an app changes, so someone must own them and a person checks anything customer-facing.
What these tools do
Zapier, Make and n8n are three well-known automation tools. They work on one idea. When something happens in one app, called the trigger, they do something in another, called the action. A customer fills in the enquiry form on your website, and the tool adds a line to your job list, messages the office and sends the customer a confirmation.
You build the flow, a chain of steps, by choosing them on screen instead of writing code. They sit in the middle of the three ways systems connect: a built-in connection between two products comes first, an automation tool second, and a custom-written link last.
Where AI fits
AI works as one step inside the flow. It can read an incoming email and label it as a quote request, a complaint or an invoice. It can pull the name, address and job type out of a message or form. It can draft a reply, or summarise a long thread into the customer's record.
The AI step needs clear instructions: the list of labels to use, the fields you want, the tone of a reply. The flow does the moving and the AI does the reading and writing. A supplier's invoice arrives, the AI picks out the invoice number and total, and the flow drops them into your accounts inbox for a person to check.
Cost and limits
Pricing is generally by runs or tasks, meaning each time a flow fires or a step completes. A flow that starts on every incoming email costs more than one that runs once a week. n8n can also run on your own server, which moves the cost from the subscription to hosting and upkeep that you or your IT person carry.
Flows break when an app changes, often without any message: a field is renamed or a login expires. Someone must own each flow and be alerted when a run fails. AI steps can be wrong, so anything that goes to a customer or changes money passes a person first.
Where to start this week
Pick one hand-off that people repeat by hand, such as a new enquiry going onto the job list. Write down the steps first. Check whether your software already has a built-in connection to do it.
If not, build one small flow, put a person's name on it and switch on failure alerts. Add an approval step before any message reaches a customer. After a week, read the runs and see what it got wrong before you build a second flow.
More in part 6
- 1What is an AI workflow?
- 2What is an AI agent?
- 3Workflow vs. agent: what's the difference?
- 4Chatbot or AI agent on your website: which do you need?Written
- 5What AI is already built into the software you pay for?Written
- 6How AI works with what you already have
- 7What are automation tools like Zapier, Make and n8n, and where does AI fit?WrittenYou are here
- 8What is RPA, and is it still worth it?Written
- 9What is an integration, really?
- 10What is an API?
- 11What is a webhook?
- 12What is tool calling / function calling?
- 13What is structured output / JSON?
- 14What is MCP?
- 15What is an AI harness?
- 16What are AI skills?
- 17What are subagents?
- 18What is computer use?
- 19What is Jev?
Next step
Where does this fit your business?
Six quick questions about your business, then your AI plan: what to start with, what a person still checks, and the lessons that go with it. Or bring it straight to a free thirty-minute call.