What is Automation?
Turkish: Otomasyon
Automation is the use of software or technology to perform repetitive business processes automatically, without human intervention.
What Is Automation?
Automation is the use of software or system integrations to run repeatable, rule-based business steps automatically. A process is a good automation candidate when its inputs, decision rules, outputs, and exception cases can be described clearly.
For example, when a new order arrives, a company may need to reduce stock, create an invoice, notify the customer, and open a shipping record in separate systems. Automation connects those steps into one event chain.
Types of Automation
- Workflow automation: Manages approvals, task assignment, notifications, and state changes.
- API-based automation: Moves data reliably between systems.
- RPA: Uses software robots to operate legacy systems through the user interface.
- Data automation: Runs reporting, file transfer, synchronization, and cleanup flows.
- Marketing automation: Manages segments, email, lead nurturing, and campaign triggers.
Good design treats the trigger, action, error handling, and rollback behavior separately. A webhook can start the process; API calls move the data; an ERP may remain the source of truth for finance or inventory.
Business Use
Automation is used for quote approvals, invoice creation, stock alerts, support routing, employee onboarding, report distribution, and payment reconciliation. Measurement should go beyond “hours saved” and include waiting time, rework cost, customer response time, and the number of manual exceptions.
Not every process should be automated. For flows with unstable rules, unclear decision criteria, or high legal risk, teams should first simplify the process, define permissions, and decide where human approval is required.
Related Terms
An API is a contract that lets software systems request approved data or actions from one another through documented endpoints.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management)CRM centralizes customers, opportunities, and interaction history so teams can manage relationships through measurable sales processes.
Cron JobA cron job is a scheduled Unix/Linux task that runs backups, reports, synchronization, or maintenance at fixed times or intervals.
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)ERP manages finance, inventory, sales, production, HR, and supply chain processes through a shared enterprise data model.
ETL (Extract, Transform, Load)ETL extracts data from multiple sources, transforms it, and loads it into a data warehouse or reporting system on a schedule.
Invoice AutomationInvoice automation connects sales, approval, e-Fatura/e-Arşiv, and accounting records through rule-based workflows with fewer manual errors.
WorkflowA workflow defines which tasks happen, in what order, by whom, and under which rules to reach a business or system goal.
n8n (Workflow Automation)n8n is a workflow automation tool that connects APIs, databases, and business apps through visual nodes, schedules, and event triggers.
Automation ROIAutomation ROI measures the return on automation investment, considering time savings, error reduction, and cost decrease.
WebhookA webhook lets one system automatically send an HTTP request to another when an event occurs, so updates arrive without polling.