Automation is the broad category covering the use of software to handle tasks that would otherwise require human effort. This spans simple rules that route emails to an inbox all the way to AI agents that handle complete multi-step business processes.
Traditional automation follows scripts and breaks when it hits something unexpected. AI-powered automation handles variability — it reads unstructured inputs, makes judgment calls, and adapts to situations the original designers did not anticipate. A manufacturer that receives hundreds of supplier invoices each month and uses an automation agent to read, match, flag, and process them is replacing work that previously required a dedicated team.
