Three different tools
A chatbot answers questions. It is a conversation surface over a knowledge base or a model. A workflow automation follows fixed rules across systems: when an invoice arrives, extract these fields, create this record, notify this person. An AI agent is given a goal and tools, decides the next step itself, and keeps going across systems until the goal is met or it must escalate.
| Chatbot | Workflow automation | AI agent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decides the next step? | No | No — rules do | Yes, within limits |
| Touches your systems? | Rarely | Yes, fixed paths | Yes, as tools |
| Best for | FAQs, support deflection | Stable, repeatable processes | Multi-step work needing judgement |
| Typical cost (AU) | A$5k–A$20k | A$6k–A$25k per workflow | A$12k pilot, A$30k–A$120k production |
| Main risk | Wrong answers | Silent failures | Wrong actions |
The five-question test
- Is the process the same every time? → Workflow.
- Does the next step depend on reading several things and judging? → Agent.
- Do people mostly need an answer, not an action? → Chatbot (governed, with citations).
- Does it move money, commit the company or affect a person? → whichever you choose, add a human approval.
- Can you name the number it has to move? If not, start with an audit, not a build.
Where companies go wrong
Buying an agent for a stable process (expensive, over-engineered), buying a chatbot and expecting it to do work (it cannot), or automating a process nobody has written down (it breaks on the first exception). The fix in all three cases is a short, paid discovery that produces a scope and a scorecard before any build.
Automate the six stable workflows first — document-to-data, quote-to-cash, onboarding, reporting, CRM hygiene, approvals. Then pilot one agent where judgement is the bottleneck. Chatbots last, and only governed ones.
Questions people ask
Can an automation include a model?
Yes — reading a document or classifying an email is a model step inside a rule-based workflow. That is still a workflow, because the path is fixed.
Is an "AI employee" an agent?
Yes. It is an agent given a role, a scope and a manager. The term is useful because it makes the governance question obvious.
Related: AI agents · AI workflows · What an agent costs