Turning repetitive tasks into strategic time: how n8n makes automation accessible

Winner of Meet Share Question - November 2025

"You cannot live your life based on what everyone else thinks."

That's the inspirational quote that popped up when Mark Rodseth clicked a button during MSQ DX's November AI show and tell session. His reaction? "Let that be the take-home message for today's talk."

It was a perfect opening for a demonstration of n8n—an AI-powered automation platform now available across MSQ—that proved something important: automation doesn't have to be complicated, expensive, or out of reach. Sometimes it's just a button that fetches quotes. Sometimes it's an AI agent smart enough to know what it doesn't know.

What Actually Is a Workflow?

Before diving into what n8n can do, Mark established the fundamentals. Strip away all the enterprise jargon, and workflows are dead simple: connected steps that transform inputs into outputs. You need triggers (what starts it), actions (what happens), sequencing (in what order), data flow (how information moves), and a goal (what you're trying to achieve).

That's it. The backbone of automation isn't mysterious—it's just structured logic. n8n makes that logic visual and accessible through its drag-and-drop interface.

When Automation Gets Smart

The quote-fetcher was charming. But Mark's real n8n showcase was an AI agent that could actually think.

Picture this: a chat interface with memory and access to real-world tools. You ask "What's the weather today?" It doesn't guess. It doesn't break. It asks where you are, then fetches current London weather. You want news? It asks which source you prefer, then grabs BBC World headlines.

The agent recognises the limits of its knowledge and calls external tools to fill the gaps. That's not rigid automation—that's intelligence that reasons. And n8n makes building these intelligent agents accessible to anyone willing to learn the basics.

Programming Jokes and Serious Capability

Between the inspirational quotes and weather requests, Mark threw in n8n workflows that fetch programming jokes on demand. Why? Because you can. Because automation doesn't have to be grim and serious to be valuable.

But the same platform handling jokes also coordinates complex data transfers, schedules sophisticated processes, and manages AI agents making contextual decisions across multiple systems. The difference isn't the tool—it's how creatively you think about connecting those building blocks.

Templates Mean You Don't Start from Scratch

Here's what makes n8n accessible: hundreds of pre-built templates. Marketing automation. Sales workflows. IT operations. Document management. Content creation with AI assistance.

You're not staring at a blank canvas. Find a template close to your challenge, customise it for your specific needs, connect it to your systems. Mark demonstrated the speed: paste a template into n8n, connect the nodes, start experimenting. Working automation in minutes, not months.

What n8n Actually Solves

Look, we all spend too much time on tasks that don't need human brains. Pulling data from five different systems. Reformatting the same information repeatedly. Sending status updates. Moving content through workflows.

None of that is difficult. It's just time-consuming. Time that could go toward strategic thinking, creative problem-solving, work that genuinely needs human judgement.

When you can automate those workflows yourself using n8n—quickly, without massive overhead—you reclaim that time. You can experiment, iterate, build solutions tailored to actual needs instead of waiting for resources or compromising on generic tools.

The Real Win

Mark's n8n demonstration wasn't about showing off complex technology. It was about proving that intelligent automation is practical, accessible, and available right now across MSQ.

The barrier between "we should automate this" and "we automated this" has collapsed. That matters because commercial impact comes from focusing time on work that drives revenue, improves customer experience, and creates competitive advantage—not from manually moving data between systems.

n8n handles the repetitive. People focus on what requires actual human expertise. Everyone achieves more of what matters.

We measure our success by what we help you achieve. When automation becomes this accessible, what you can achieve expands dramatically.

Automation is just the beginning. See how our capabilities help complex organisations accelerate transformation and drive measurable results.

Meet Share Question returns next month.