Let me round up some automation tools you can actually put to use in daily life and work.
Automation services take repetitive tasks off your plate and help you build a more efficient personal or team workflow.
With advances in AI and no-code tools, anyone can now easily automate all sorts of tasks.
What Are Automation Services?#
Automation services are platforms or software that automatically handle repetitive tasks.
They come in many forms -- API integrations, AI recommendations, workflow builders, browser automation -- and even non-developers can use them easily with no-code approaches.
Popular automation services these days:
- Zapier: Connects various web services to automate workflows. Auto-executes common tasks like email, scheduling, and file management.
- Make (formerly Integromat): Visually automates everything from complex conditional logic to multi-step workflows.
- Thunderbit: A web-based work automation tool gaining traction in Korea. Strong in AI-powered browser automation and data extraction.
- Microsoft Copilot: Embeds AI-powered automation across MS Office. Handles document creation and analysis all at once.
- Notion, Smartsheet, Monday.com: Productivity tools that combine project collaboration with process automation.
- Magical Autofill, Cursor, Selenium: Automates repetitive form inputs and simple web browser tasks.
- ChatGPT, Canva, Pictory: Auto-generates blog/content drafts, auto-edits images and videos, etc.
Usage Examples#
- Work automation: Auto-generating contracts, calendar integration, sending recurring emails, etc.
- Content creation: Drafting blog posts and social media content, auto-editing digital content.
- Data analysis: Automating the entire pipeline from data collection to cleaning to reporting.
- Daily life: Financial transaction alerts, calendar sync, shopping deal notifications, etc.
Things Developers Should Definitely Automate#
Automation can transform your life and work. If you're a developer, I'd recommend starting with these areas:
- Auto-generating test cases (using VS Code plugins, etc.)
- Pull Request code review and task assignment notifications
- Repository management: auto-tracking changes, auto-creating issues via email/messenger
- CI & CD (deployment automation)
- Service monitoring/alerting: auto-notifications for performance degradation, outages, threshold breaches
- Auto-documentation on code changes
- Team collaboration and retrospective/deadline reminders
- Auto-generating daily/weekly reports
- DB event trigger-based notifications (batch/offline processing, etc.)
Automating these things is like having a dedicated manager tracking your progress automatically, boosting your productivity.
Real-World Enterprise Automation Examples#
Large companies are also adopting Zapier, RPA, and internal automation tools across their operations.
- Meta (Facebook): From social media content management to ticket systems and customer inquiry consolidation, most operations are automated for high efficiency.
- Microsoft: Solves complex routines like IT tasks, product feedback, and cross-platform data synchronization through automation.
- Netflix: Applies data analysis-driven automation to content recommendations/management, user engagement, and viewing pattern monitoring.
- Google: Runs ad campaigns, large-scale data analysis, and internal collaboration through automation.
Automation and RPA are becoming essential not just for startups and freelancers but also for large enterprises and the public sector, clearly changing the way we work and where the boundaries lie.
Silences make the real conversations between friends. Not the saying but the never needing to say is what counts.
— Margaret Runbeck
