Amplituda
ISSUE 01

This week: compliance is quietly becoming an automation problem

Two of this week's stories are about the same shift from different directions: compliance work is moving out of spreadsheets and into workflows, and buyers are getting more careful about where their data goes. Both change what you should ask a vendor.

01

Enterprise automation without the per-task bill

A comparison of enterprise alternatives to Workato, covering pricing models, self-hosting and where each platform hits its ceiling.

What it means for you

The pattern behind the comparison matters more than the list. Per-task pricing penalises you for success: the more the automation runs, the more it costs, which is exactly backwards. We default to self-hosted n8n for this reason, and we say plainly when a couple of simple links make Zapier the cheaper honest answer.

What to do this week

Take last month's automation bill and divide it by the number of runs. If that number is uncomfortable, the platform is charging you for growth.

Source: n8nProcess automation →
02

SOC 2 evidence collection is a workflow, not a project

A walkthrough of automating SOC 2 evidence gathering across systems that were never designed to talk to each other.

What it means for you

Compliance is the most under-automated process we meet. It has everything an automation candidate needs — high volume, clear rules, painful manual work — and it is almost always done by hand because nobody owns it. The same applies to any recurring evidence pack: audit prep, board reporting, supplier reviews.

What to do this week

Count the hours your team spent on the last audit pack. That number is the budget for automating it.

Source: n8nProcess automation →
03

Model vendors are competing on privacy terms now

OpenAI announced customer privacy protections positioned against Anthropic's terms, as enterprise buyers push back on how their data is handled.

What it means for you

Good news, with a caveat: vendor terms are not the same as your architecture. Where the data physically goes is decided by how the pipeline is built, not by the page you signed. We run automation on self-hosted infrastructure and say upfront which single step, if any, leaves the perimeter — and we write it into the contract rather than the sales call.

What to do this week

Draw the path of one real record through your automation. Every hop that leaves your infrastructure should be a deliberate decision with a name attached.

Source: TechCrunchProcess automation →
04

Adoption is slower than the demos promised

A look at why general enthusiasm for AI has not converted into everyday use at the pace vendors projected.

What it means for you

This matches what we see in the field, and it is not a technology problem. Projects that stall are the ones where a tool was bolted onto an unchanged process; projects that stick are the ones where a single process was rebuilt around the tool and measured before and after. The difference shows up in the first two weeks.

What to do this week

Pick the one process that annoys your team most, measure what it costs this week, and change only that. A first win funds the rest.

Source: TechCrunchProcess automation →
The short versionThe question that decides an automation project is no longer "can it do this" but "where does the data go and what happens when it breaks". Ask it before the contract, not after.

ONE DIGEST A WEEK

Send me the next issue when it is out

Four stories a week with what they mean for your process. No ads, no roundups of roundups. Unsubscribe with one word in reply.

Issues only. We do not pass the address to anyone.

Show us the one process that annoys you most

We spend 45 minutes on it together. You leave with a diagram and an estimate — even if you buy nothing from us.

Review your process — 45 minutesTelegram @Amplituda_RPC