Technology
One set of business rules. Your choice of platform.
Customers see one solution. Behind it, the same workflow contracts run whether we orchestrate with Microsoft Power Automate or n8n — so behaviour, approvals and audit logs are identical either way.
Option A
Microsoft automation
HubSpot → Power Automate → Database → Power BI / Claude → Human approval → HubSpot
HubSpot
Webhooks & CRM API
Power Automate
Cloud flows in your M365 tenant
Workflow API + DB
Shared logic · Azure SQL
Power BI
Dashboards
Claude
Drafts & analysis
Human approval
Teams adaptive card
HubSpot
Approved tasks & emails
Option B
Flexible automation
HubSpot → n8n → Database → Power BI / Claude → Human approval → HubSpot
HubSpot
Webhooks & CRM API
n8n
Cloud or self-hosted
Workflow API + DB
Shared logic · PostgreSQL
Power BI
Dashboards
Claude
Drafts & analysis
Human approval
Slack / Teams / email
HubSpot
Approved tasks & emails
Comparison
How the two options differ
We recommend one during discovery based on your existing licences, IT policies and integration needs.
| A · Microsoft | B · Flexible | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Businesses standardised on Microsoft 365 | Teams needing flexibility, self-hosting or niche connectors |
| Orchestration | Power Automate cloud flows | n8n (cloud or self-hosted) |
| Where it runs | Your Microsoft 365 tenant | n8n Cloud or your own infrastructure |
| Approvals | Teams adaptive cards / Approvals | Slack, Teams or email approval links |
| Data store | Azure SQL (typical) | PostgreSQL (typical) |
| Licensing | M365 + Power Automate premium where needed | n8n subscription or hosting costs |
| Business logic | Shared workflow service — identical | Shared workflow service — identical |
Integration boundaries
What runs where — and what crosses each boundary
Your tenant (you own it)
Credentials stay in your secret store. Orchestrators call the workflow API with signed requests and idempotency keys.
Workflow service
- Event contracts & validation
- Idempotency & primary-orchestrator guard
- Business rules
- Approval queue
- Audit log
Deployed in your Azure subscription or a UK/EU-hosted environment agreed in scope.
AI provider
- • Receives only minimised, task-specific fields
- • Has no CRM credentials and no write tools
- • Output is validated against a schema
- • Customer-facing output needs human approval
Workflow contracts
A common interface for both orchestrators
Each orchestrator posts the same JSON envelope (event id, idempotency key, timestamp, orchestrator, payload) to the workflow service and receives the same structured result.
| Event | Trigger | Output | Needs approval |
|---|---|---|---|
| LeadCreated | Form, ad or CRM contact created | Validated lead, owner, follow-up task, internal alert | No |
| DealStalled | Scheduled scan finds inactive deal | Recommendation, email draft, approval request | Yes |
| MeetingCompleted | Meeting ends / notes saved | Actions, owners, deadlines, summary draft, approval request | Yes |
| ProposalFollowUpDue | Proposal unanswered for N days | Reminder draft, approval request | Yes |
| DailyBriefingRequested | Weekday schedule | Briefing with linked records | No (internal) |
| ActionApproved | Approver accepts | Executes approved sub-actions, audit events | — |
| ActionRejected | Approver rejects | Records decision; nothing executed | — |
POST /api/workflows/LeadCreated
x-corebi-signature: t=1792400000,v1=<hmac-sha256>
{
"eventId": "pa-run-8f2c1a",
"idempotencyKey": "hubspot:contact.creation:51234",
"occurredAt": "2026-10-19T09:00:00Z",
"orchestrator": "power-automate",
"payload": { "firstName": "…", "email": "…", "company": "…", "source": "Website form" }
}
→ 200 { "status": "completed" | "pending_approval" | "duplicate" | "rejected" | "failed",
"trace": [...], "approval": {...}, "effects": [...], "audit": [...], "error": { "code", "retryable" } }Security & controls
Controlled AI, by design
Built with UK GDPR principles in mind: lawful basis, data minimisation, purpose limitation and documented processing.
We don't claim certifications we don't hold. Security controls are documented per engagement and can be reviewed by your IT or compliance team.
- TypeScript contracts and schema validation on every inbound event
- HMAC-signed webhooks with timestamp tolerance to stop replays
- Idempotency keys so retries and dual delivery never duplicate actions
- Primary-orchestrator guard when Power Automate and n8n are both enabled
- Retry with exponential backoff (up to 5 attempts) for retryable errors only
- Human approval for every customer-facing action
- Least-privilege API scopes and role-based access in production
- Secrets in Azure Key Vault or equivalent — never in browser code
- Data minimisation: AI receives only the fields a task needs
- Prompt-injection controls: CRM text treated as data; AI has no write tools
- Rate limiting on public endpoints
- Audit log of events, approvals, rejections and executed actions
Technical FAQs
Technology questions
Will AI send emails to our customers automatically?
No. AI drafts and recommends; a person approves anything customer-facing. Approvals, rejections and executed actions are recorded in an audit log.
Power Automate or n8n — which will you use?
If you already run on Microsoft 365, we typically use Power Automate so everything stays in your tenant and licensing. If you need more flexibility, self-hosting or a broader range of connectors, n8n is often the better fit. The business logic is the same either way, and we recommend one during discovery.
Who owns the workflows and dashboards?
You do. We build in your own Microsoft 365, n8n, HubSpot and Power BI environments using your accounts, and hand over documentation at the end.
How do you handle our data and UK GDPR?
We use least-privilege access, only process the fields each workflow needs, keep credentials in managed secret stores, and document data flows so you can update your records of processing. A data processing agreement forms part of each engagement.
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