AI Automation | Cases in Hong Kong and Asia | n8n vs Make vs Zapier
How can Hong Kong SMEs break through in fierce competition? This article focuses on the Hong Kong and Asian markets, deconstructing AI automation applications. Through real-world case studies using tools like n8n and Make, we help you cope with high costs and digital transformation pressure, delegate repetitive work to AI, and focus on developing business in the Greater Bay Area and Asia.
Through multiple real business scenarios, we will show you step-by-step how to easily integrate AI seamlessly into your daily operations, just like playing with Legos, turning tedious work into "automatically completed" miracles, allowing you to have more energy to focus on your core business and developing the Asian market.
What is AI Automation? Your 24-Hour Super Digital Employee in Hong Kong
Case Studies of AI Automation: How Hong Kong Enterprises Turn AI into Super Productivity
How to Choose the Right AI Automation Platform for You? Considerations from a Hong Kong Enterprise Perspective
What is AI Automation? Your 24-Hour Super Digital Employee in Hong Kong
Let's first use a simple analogy to understand.
Traditional "automation" is like setting an alarm clock that goes off when the time comes. It can execute fixed, one-way instructions. For example, automatically sending a fixed report email at 9 am every day.
And "AI Automation," on the other hand, gives your digital workflow a "brain" on this basis. It doesn't just go off on time, it also thinks, judges, and even creates. In a market as multilingual, multicultural, and ever-changing as Asia, having such a smart digital employee is crucial.
This AI super employee can:
- Read and Understand: Automatically read English emails from all over the world, simplified Chinese PDF invoices from suppliers, and traditional Chinese feedback from local customers, and grasp the key points.
- Analyze and Classify: Automatically assign tasks to different teams based on the customer's region (Hong Kong, Greater Bay Area, Southeast Asia) and the urgency of the inquiry content.
- Generate and Customize: Automatically draft development letters or social media posts that are in line with the local cultural context for potential customers in different markets.
- Cross-Platform Communication: When there is new data in the website's inquiry form, it will automatically notify your WhatsApp Business or Slack channel and create a new customer file in the CRM system.
AI Automation Application = Workflow Automation + Artificial Intelligence (AI). It is a bridge that connects all your commonly used software (such as Gmail, Shopify, Xero, WhatsApp, LINE, CRM systems, etc.) and injects AI's wisdom into it, making the entire workflow "smart" and helping you operate efficiently in the business hub of Hong Kong.
And the key to achieving all this is the platforms we will discuss in depth next, such as n8n, Make, Zapier, etc.
Case Studies of AI Automation: How Hong Kong Enterprises Turn AI into Super Productivity
Talking on paper is always empty. Let's dive directly into the daily operating scenarios of Hong Kong enterprises and see how these smart AI processes are built.
【Marketing and Sales: Precisely Developing Local and Hong Kong Area Markets】
Case 1: Automatically Develop Potential Customers from Google Maps and Generate Customized Development Letters (Tools used: n8n + OpenAI)
- Hong Kong Market Pain Point: A marketing company located in Kwun Tong needs to develop potential local businesses in Hong Kong for new clients (for example: fitness centers in Central). Team members need to spend a lot of time manually searching on Google Maps, copying data one by one, and then writing development letters, which is extremely inefficient.
- AI Automation Process:
- Trigger: Enter the keyword "Central Fitness Centre" in Google Sheets.
- Search and Crawl (n8n): The n8n process is triggered, automatically using this keyword to search on Google Maps and crawling the public information of the top 50 businesses in the search results (name, address, phone number, website, number of reviews, etc.).
- Data Organization (n8n): The crawled messy data is automatically organized and saved back to another worksheet in Google Sheets.
- AI Analysis and Writing (OpenAI GPT-4o): n8n sends each piece of business information to OpenAI. The AI's task is: a) Quickly summarize its service features. b) Based on these features, draft a personalized cooperation invitation letter that conforms to Hong Kong business practices, for example: "Noting that your center focuses on High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), our customer relationship management system can help you manage your members...".
- Send and Notify (Gmail + Slack): n8n automatically sends this customized letter via the company's Gmail and sends a notification to the sales colleagues in Slack after completion: "A development letter has been sent for 'XX Fitness', please prepare for follow-up."
- Result: Manual work that originally took an afternoon can now be completed automatically in just a few minutes. The sales team can fully concentrate on higher-value tasks such as "customer relationship building" and "closing deals," seizing the first-mover advantage in the fast-paced environment of Hong Kong.
【Operations and Finance: Coping with Cross-Border Transactions and Compliance Challenges】
- Case 2: AI-Automated Processing of Cross-Border PDF Invoices and Approval (Tools used: n8n + OpenAI + Google Drive). A trading company receives a large number of simplified Chinese PDF invoices from mainland suppliers and English invoices from overseas customers every day. Finance colleagues need to manually open the documents, identify the fields in different languages, check the amounts, and then manually enter them into the accounting system (such as Xero or Quickbooks), which is a cumbersome and extremely error-prone process.
- AI Automation Process:
- Trigger: When a new PDF file is uploaded to the specified Google Drive folder, the process starts automatically.
- AI Reading and Information Extraction (OpenAI): n8n sends the PDF file to OpenAI's Vision function. The AI is trained to recognize Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and English simultaneously. It will "read" this invoice like a human eye and extract key information: supplier name, invoice number, date, total amount, etc.
- Data Writing (Google Sheets/Xero): n8n automatically fills the structured data extracted by the AI into the accounting system or Google Sheets via API and marks the status as "pending approval."
- .
- .
- Send Approval Notification (Slack/DingTalk): The process automatically sends a message to the supervisor in Slack or DingTalk, which is commonly used by mainland colleagues, with a preview of the invoice and a link, and includes "approve" and "reject" buttons.
- Update Status: After the supervisor clicks the button, n8n will automatically update the invoice status in the system.
- Result: It completely eliminates the bottleneck of manually processing cross-border, multilingual documents. This not only improves efficiency but also reduces the financial risks caused by human errors, while also allowing the finance team to focus more on financial analysis and planning.
~
Case 3: AI Smart Payment Reminder System, Polite and Efficient (Tools used: n8n + Gmail + Google Sheets)
- Pain Point: Accountants or project managers have to track a large number of unpaid invoices every month. Manually checking which customers are overdue and sending reminder letters is not only time-consuming but also prone to errors or omissions. Furthermore, an improper tone can negatively affect customer relationships.
- AI Automation Process:
- Trigger: The process is set to run automatically every morning.
- Read Data (Google Sheets): The process automatically reads a Google Sheet that records all invoice statuses, checking the "Due Date" and "Payment Status" columns.
- AI Judgment and Classification (n8n + OpenAI):
n8n filters out all "overdue" and "unpaid" invoices. It sends the number of overdue days to OpenAI, allowing the AI to generate reminder letters with different tones based on the length of the overdue period (e.g., 1 day, 7 days, 30 days). For example, a letter for a 1-day overdue invoice has a gentle reminder tone, while a letter for a 30-day overdue invoice is more serious and formal. - Send Reminder (Gmail): n8n automatically sends the AI-generated letter to the corresponding customer contact.
- Internal Record (Google Sheets + Slack): After the letter is sent, it automatically records "First reminder sent on Month/Day" in the "Notes" column of the Google Sheet and sends a notification to the finance department's Slack channel.
- Result: The dunning process is fully automated, ensuring 100% accuracy and timeliness. The AI-generated copy has more of a human touch than standard templates, maintaining a professional image while freeing accounting staff from repetitive administrative work.
Case Four: AI-Driven File Auto-Classification and Management (Tools used: Zapier + Google Drive + OpenAI)
- Pain Point: A shared cloud drive (like Google Drive) often becomes a digital "dumpster" due to the lack of uniform naming and classification rules. Team members can't find the files they need, wasting a significant amount of time on searching and organizing.
- AI Automation Process:
- Trigger (Zapier): When any new file is uploaded to a Google Drive folder named "Inbox," Zapier's automation process (called a "Zap") is triggered.
- Content Analysis (OpenAI): Zapier sends the file's content (if it's a text file) or its filename to OpenAI. The AI's task is to analyze the file's topic and generate a standardized filename and several keyword tags for it. For example, for a report on the second-quarter marketing campaign, the AI might generate the filename "2024-Q2-Marketing-Campaign-Report.pdf" and the tags "Marketing," "Report," and "Q2."
- Move and Archive (Google Drive): Based on the topic analyzed by the AI (e.g., "Marketing"), Zapier automatically moves this file to the corresponding "Marketing Department" folder.
- Result: This ensures that all files are archived instantly and accurately. Team members no longer need to worry about finding files, and the cloud drive becomes well-organized, making knowledge management effortless.
AI
直接看文章教學，不用真人上課，方便快捷
How to Choose the Right AI Automation Platform for You? Considerations from a Hong Kong Enterprise Perspective
After seeing these powerful cases, you may be eager to try. Here we add some unique considerations for Hong Kong enterprises to the three most mainstream platforms.
Feature | n8n (The DIY Powerhouse) | Make (The Visual Virtuoso) | Zapier (The Simple Connector) |
Core Advantage | Open-source, self-hostable, highly customizable | Mature visual interface, intuitive operation | Supports the most apps, fastest to get started |
AI Integration | Highest degree of freedom, can be deeply integrated with frameworks like LangChain, complete control over AI model parameters | Provides integration modules with mainstream AI tools (like OpenAI), relatively simple to set up | Provides AI integration functions, but like a "black box," users have less control over the details |
Hong Kong Perspective | Top Choice for Data Privacy: n8n can be self-hosted on a local or designated cloud server, fully complying with the strict requirements of the Hong Kong Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (PDPO). Customer data does not need to pass through third-party platforms, ensuring security and control. | Quick to Start: For Hong Kong startups or marketing departments that want to quickly launch marketing campaigns and conduct A/B testing, its intuitive interface allows non-technical personnel to quickly build processes. | Broadest Ecosystem: If your business needs to connect to a large number of mainstream SaaS software from Europe and America, Zapier undoubtedly has the broadest support. |
Target Users | Developers, financial/medical industries with high data security requirements, enterprises that want to build complex proprietary processes | Marketing and operations personnel of SMEs, teams that pursue a visual and smooth operating experience | Individuals or small teams that pursue speed and simplicity and need to connect a large number of different applications |
Summary | If you place extreme importance on data sovereignty or want to create a unique AI process, n8n is your best choice. | If you are a visual thinker and want to create processes like creating on a canvas, you will love Make. | If you just want to connect A and B two applications as quickly as possible, starting with Zapier is the easiest. |
.
Seeking Professional Help? Get to Know 99aicreator's Localized AI Automation Process Service
Looking at the introduction above, you may be excited, but at the same time, you may also have some doubts: "These tools look great, but our company doesn't have an IT department, and I don't have time to study them myself, what should I do?"
This is completely normal! For many Hong Kong enterprises, the core business is the top priority. In this case, seeking professional consulting services that understand the Hong Kong market is a more efficient and stable shortcut.
This is exactly where a professional team like 99aicreator can come in. They don't provide tools, but a complete "done-for-you" solution tailored for Hong Kong enterprises.
99aicreator's Service Model:
- Localized Consulting: Experts will first gain a deep understanding of your operating model and unique "pain points" in Hong Kong to identify the most valuable and suitable links for AI automation.
- Customized Development: Then, they will tailor-made an exclusive automation process for you, handling common complex situations in the Asian market such as multiple languages and currencies.
- Post-Maintenance and Optimization: After delivery, they will continue to monitor the operation of the process and make adjustments and optimizations at any time according to the development of your business.
Embark on the Road of AI Automation: Your First Step in Hong Kong
AI automation applications are not out-of-reach cutting-edge technology, it is more like a set of digital toolkits that give us superpowers. It will not replace human strategic thinking, creative ideas, and warm communication, but will liberate us from repetitive, low-value labor, allowing us to focus more on those tasks that can only create value as "human beings."
This is not just a technological revolution, but a revolution in business thinking. Are you ready to welcome your super digital employees, unleash the infinite potential of you and your team, and gain a first-mover advantage in the Asian market?
Contact Us
Contact via Whatsapp : 
/ Contact+852 59216804
~
