Welcome back to Beginner to Pro course.
If you are here, that means you are ready to move from why automation matters to how automation actually
works.
In this episode, I will show you the core components that make automation possible.
Think of this as learning the basic ingredients before you start cooking your own automation recipes.
By the end of this lesson, you will have a clear understanding of how workflows are structured and
how different parts work together to automate tasks effortlessly.
Now the importance of data driven decisions in automation.
Automation is not just about saving time, it's about making smarter, data driven decisions instead
of relying on feelings.
Automation helps collect, process, and analyze data to improve reporting.
Increase visibility on Roy and to optimize resources like time and budget.
This means businesses can make better choices, reduce inefficiencies, and allocate their efforts where
they matter most.
Let's get straight to it.
What is workflow?
A workflow is simply a set of steps that tells the system what to do, when to do it, and under what
conditions.
Imagine this you wake up, make coffee, check your phone, reply to emails, and then start work.
That's workflow.
You are following a set of steps.
But we don't want you doing the steps.
We want automation to do them for you.
Think about how many hours get wasted on copy pasting data, moving files, or manually updating spreadsheets.
Automating these repetitive tasks not only improves accuracy.
But also boost productivity and job satisfaction.
Your team can focus on high value work instead of tedious manual labor.
Less time spent on repetitive work means more time for creativity, strategy, and business growth.
Now.
Predictability.
Dataflow in automation.
One of the biggest benefits of automation is predictability.
But workflows follow a structured process every time, ensuring that no steps are missed and data flows
exactly where it needs to go.
This level of consistency reduces mistakes and ensures smoother business operations, making automation
an essential tool for scaling and maintaining efficiency.
Now breaking down a workflow, there are three key ingredients.
But before building workflows, it's important to understand one key concept.
Workflows are all about moving and transforming data between different systems, whether it's contact
details, sales numbers, or support tickets.
Automation helps ensure that data flows smoothly and accurately.
Also, keep in mind that workflows can be linear one step after another or complex with multiple branches,
depending on your needs.
So every workflow, whether you are automating a business task or your morning routine, has three core
parts trigger actions and conditions.
Trigger is what starts the workflow.
Actions are the tasks that need to be completed.
And conditions is basically the logic that decides what happens next.
So trigger.
This is the starting point.
The event that kicks everything off.
For example, someone fills out a contact form on your website or send a message or upload a file.
Think of it like an alarm clock.
When the alarm rings, it triggers you to wake up.
Triggers can come from different sources.
A specific time.
An event in an app like a message sent on WhatsApp, telegram, slack or any other communication platform
or even manual input.
Without a trigger, the workflow has no reason to start.
No actions.
These are the tasks that happen after the trigger.
So, for example, send a confirmation email, update a Google Sheet and notify your sales team on slack.
It's like making coffee.
After you wake up, your brain gets triggered and the action is making that cup of coffee.
So actions are the workers of your workflow.
They can send emails, move data, create files, or even trigger other workflows depending on your
needs.
One important thing to remember is that actions ensure predictability in your processes.
Whether it is whether it is just adding a contact to a CRM or automatically generating an invoice.
Automation follows the same pattern every single time.
No conditions or filters.
This is where things get smart.
Conditions.
Decide what happens next based on certain criteria.
So it's conditional logic.
For example, only send delete to your sales team if the contact is from a specific country.
It's like checking the weather before leaving the house.
So if it's raining, you grab an umbrella.
If not, you head out as usual.
In short, conditions help you control the flow of automation.
They ensure that the right actions are performed for the right situations and help avoid unnecessary
steps.
So also reduce complexity.
Think of them as quality control.
They ensure that only the right data.
Let's make this reel with an example that's relevant for almost any business, whether you are in marketing,
sales, or running your own agency.
Let's say you manage incoming leads from your website, and you want to make sure no potential client
slips through the cracks.
So here is what you want to happen automatically when someone when someone fills out your website's
contact form, their details should be saved in your CRM.
If the lead is from a high value company based on their email domain, assign it to your top sales rep
and send an instant slack notification to follow up as soon as possible.
If it's a regular lead, add them to an automated email nurturing sequence and if the form submission
is missing key info like no email.
Send a follow up, uh, asking for more details.
In automation language, trigger is a new contact form submission on your website.
Actions add deletes into your CRM.
Conditions.
Check if the list company domain matches high value clients like fortune 500 companies.
If high value assigned to a top sales rep and notified them via slack.
If regular annual delete in an email nurturing campaign and if info is Foist incomplete.
Send an automated follow up requesting more details.
Now why this example works.
While automating, always think about potential exceptions.
What happens if an email fails to send or if the CRM is temporarily down?
Adding simple error handling steps can make your automation more reliable.
It's a multi-step workflow with real conditions and decisions, not just basic data entry.
It shows you how you can combine lead qualification, CRM updates, sales notifications, and email
automation in one seamless process.
Plus, it's relevant to many industries.
Perfect if you are managing leads, clients, or even job applications.
And by the way, you can build this type of automation in N810 relatively easily.
Once this is set up, it runs automatically in the background, so no need to manually track leads or
worry about missing follow ups.
Now handling edge cases and AI for decision making, human intervention and AI driven decision making
when workflows encounter unpredictable situations.
So sometimes automation alone is not enough.
You may need human intervention for edge cases or AI powered decision making to handle exceptions.
In future lessons.
We'll explore how AI agents can help make intelligent decisions within your workflows.
Best practices for workflow automation.
Importance of planning and mapping out workflow before automating.
So, before jumping into an A-10, try to take a moment to map out your automation.
Use tools like Miro, Figjam, or even a simple pen and paper to sketch out the process.
This helps identify missing steps and prevent wasted effort on workflows that won't work as expected.
So before wrapping up, here are some quick best practices to keep in mind when building workflows.
Map it out first, so sketch a simple flowchart of what you want to automate before jumping into automating
platforms like N810.
Start simple, build small workflows, test them, and then add complexity as needed.
Test as often as possible and document your workflows.
Add notes or comments, especially for complex automations so you or your team can easily understand
them later.
All right, let's wrap up what we covered today.
So every workflow has three key parts.
Triggers the starting point like a form submission or a new email.
actions, which are the tasks that get done.
So saving data, sending notifications, etc. and conditions the logic that decides what happens next.
Like filtering high value lists, we work through a real world example.
So automating lead management from saving CRM data to routing leads based on the email domain, and
quick tips to remember, start small and build up.
Test your workflows often and document your steps.
In the next episode, you will learn about N810 and its interface.
And I've got a small homework for you.
Think of one repetitive tasks you do daily.
Thanks for watching.
I will see you in the next episode where we dive into N810 and start automating like a pro.