Automate your workflows with n8n, Make and AI agents

What does AI automation cost for a small business?

No VAT is charged under §19 UStG (small business exemption).

You do not have to start at the top. The AI consultation clarifies which workflow is a candidate at all. The process check answers whether it pays off. The process sprint builds it. The sprint price depends on the workflow, which is why it says "from".

Which business processes can you automate?

The best candidates are tasks that repeat often and look much the same every time:

• Incoming invoices: an email arrives, the document is read, checked, sent for approval and booked in your accounting system.
• Writing quotes: an enquiry becomes a draft quote, using your own text snippets and your prices.
• Onboarding: contract, logins and checklist for new staff run without anyone chasing.
• Handling enquiries: an enquiry lands in your CRM, the confirmation goes out, a meeting slot is suggested and the follow-up happens.

Where a step has to understand, sort or write text, I use AI, for example an AI agent that pre-sorts incoming email. Decisions with consequences stay with a person. There is a separate post on AI phone assistants for trades businesses.

What does an n8n and Make agency do?

I connect the software you already use with n8n or Make, instead of replacing it. Which of the two fits depends on the workflow and on your data protection requirements. If a workflow needs a tool of its own, such as an approval screen, we also discuss whether building an internal tool is worth it or whether n8n or Make will do. Building AI agents is part of the work too, when a step calls for one.

Error handling is built in from the start: what happens with an unreadable document, a timeout or an edge case? The answer is a handover to a person and a notification, never a silent failure.

Licence fees for tools such as n8n, Make or AI APIs are paid directly to the provider. I pass them on at cost, with no mark-up.

When does automation pay off?

Do the maths for each workflow: hours per month your team spends on it, times the full cost of an hour's work, gives you today's cost per month. Set that against the price of building it and the running licence fees.

• The more often a workflow repeats, the sooner it pays off.
• The more uniform it is, the easier it is to automate.
• The more exceptions it has, the more stays with people, which reduces the saving.

That is exactly the calculation we do in the process check, for three workflows, with your numbers rather than assumptions. Sometimes the answer is to leave a workflow as it is.

Digitalbonus Bayern: when and how to check

In the process check I look at whether Digitalbonus Bayern, the Bavarian digital grant, could apply to your project. It is a check, not a promise. Under the programme rules, projects with eligible costs below €4,000 are not funded, and neither are projects financed through hire purchase or leasing. A project that has already started is excluded too, and even a verbal order counts as the start. That is why the check has to come before you commission the work.

I have summarised the rules for AI projects in a separate post on Digitalbonus Bayern for AI projects.

AI literacy in your team: what applies?

If your business uses AI, you should know what Article 4 of the EU AI Act requires on AI literacy. I explain the state as of July 2026 in a separate post: AI literacy under Article 4 of the AI Act.

For this I offer skill building: your team learns to use everyday AI chat models such as ChatGPT or Claude safely.