Workflow automation defines a sequence of tasks and has software execute them automatically when triggered. In AI-enhanced workflows, the steps include AI-powered actions — language understanding, document extraction, decision logic — alongside traditional system integrations.
A retail company's purchase order workflow that automatically checks inventory levels, validates against budget, generates a purchase order, sends it to the approved vendor, and updates the inventory management system — without manual intervention — is a fully automated workflow. Manual workflows are slow, error-prone, and do not scale. Automated workflows execute consistently at volume with a complete audit trail.
