Automation Makes Communications Work Scalable

What could your team do if you had more time for the work that actually matters?

If you’re like most communicators, your time is precious, and the last thing you want is another tool to figure out. What if the tools you already use have built-in automation?

Automation is part of a system that automatically performs a designated task. AI and automation work well together, but they’re not the same thing.

Automation can remove repetitive, low-value work that clogs up your calendar and delays meaningful progress. Things like updating lists, copying data, and chasing approvals add up fast. Automation clears that clutter, allowing communicators to focus on building trust, delivering clarity, and guiding change.

What Automation Really Means for Comms

Think of automation as a smart workflow engine. Something happens (a trigger), and that event sets off a chain reaction. No manual work needed.

A new hire is added to the HR system? The welcome email goes out automatically.

Someone fills out a form? The data updates in your system instantly.

An internal campaign wrapped up? The metrics log to a dashboard without you pulling another report.

You’ve probably seen this before in email marketing (drip campaigns, behavioral triggers, nurture sequences). The concept isn’t new. What’s changed is the accessibility and relevance for comms.

Automation Tools Worth Knowing

Tools like Zapier, Make, and n8n can help you automate almost anything, even without a dev team. They work well because of the range of integrations available. These integrations connect the systems you’re already using, so you’re not wasting time exporting spreadsheets or emailing IT for a list pull.

Great automation is invisible to the audience and transformative for the sender. Messages arrive on time, in the right channel, to the right people, without spending time to make it happen.

Email Isn’t Dead

Too many internal emails are written like external blasts. Internal comms folks are told to push back and not be box-checkers, and it takes practice if you’re not used to it. The truth is, it happens. Internal emails often become broad, impersonal, and disconnected from actual business needs or behavior.

Automation changes that.

It helps you measure engagement, identify what’s working, and continuously improve. When you pair that with smart segmentation and native delivery, email becomes one of the most powerful tools in your internal comms stack.

Please, don’t use a marketing platform to send internal emails. It’s not designed for the nuances of employee engagement. How many of you have had an exec say, “I didn’t get your last email,” and you end up combing through your send lists, scrambling to see if you used the correct one? All that to find out they unsubscribed from your “marketing” emails…

Workshop’s Approach to Automation

One example worth watching is Workshop, the internal email platform. They recently announced Journeys, a feature that helps teams build automated workflows that feel more like storytelling than task management.

Workshop’s Journeys lets you create automated, on-brand email sequences for reminders, birthdays, anniversaries, and onboarding in minutes. They handle the timing, delivery, distribution lists, and tracking. The best part is that you won’t need to submit any more IT tickets! All this to keep employees informed and engaged, and you get a ton of extra time back.

As a data nerd, my favorite thing about the tool is the ability to see your email metrics directly in the workflow view without having to view reporting on a separate page.

It’s not some premium feature they’re upselling. They made it part of every plan. They get it. Workshop understands automation is a baseline expectation for modern comms teams.

Saving time through automation is great, but creating space for better, more strategic communication is the right target.

A Better Way Forward

The comms profession is evolving and automation is part of that shift. These quiet systems behind the scenes let communicators work smarter, faster, and more strategically.

That’s the difference between automation as a tech experiment and automation as a leadership tool.

The good news is you don’t need to build it all from scratch. Tools like Workshop are making it easier to get started.

What could your team do if you had more time for the work that actually matters?