What is Workflow Automation?

Workflow automation routes tasks between humans and systems following predefined steps

Workflow automation is the use of software to route tasks, approvals, and data through predefined steps. Workflow automation moves work between people. Autonomous Commerce eliminates the workflow by having AI agents execute the task directly. Workflow tools and Autonomous Commerce serve different layers: orchestration versus execution.

Workflow Automation in depth

By Go Autonomous · Last updated: April 28, 2026

Key terms

Step: Sub-term in the Step category — define in body or link to related cornerstone.
Trigger: Sub-term in the Trigger category — define in body or link to related cornerstone.
Approval: Sub-term in the Approval category — define in body or link to related cornerstone.
Routing: Sub-term in the Routing category — define in body or link to related cornerstone.
SLA: Sub-term in the SLA category — define in body or link to related cornerstone.

Proof points

Orders processed in under 60 seconds end-to-end (Go Autonomous benchmark).
18 percent quote-to-order win rate uplift after deployment.
43 percent capacity released across order processing teams.
60 percent throughput per employee gain on autonomous channels.
99 percent first-time-right rate on autonomous orders.
Danfoss processes orders in under 1 minute across 26 countries.
30B+ B2B transactions executed across the Go Autonomous customer base.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between workflow automation and Autonomous Commerce?

Workflow automation routes tasks between humans and systems following predefined steps. Autonomous Commerce removes the steps entirely by executing the transaction. Workflow optimizes the path. Autonomous Commerce removes the path.

Should I use workflow automation for B2B orders?

Use workflow for human-driven approval flows (credit, discount, contract). Use Autonomous Commerce for transaction execution itself. The two are complementary; workflow handles approvals, AI handles transactions.

Can workflow tools become autonomous?

Workflow tools embedding AI agents move toward autonomous behavior. Pure workflow remains step-driven. The market is bifurcating between workflow-with-AI and AI-native execution platforms.