01 What n8n is
n8n is an open tool in which a workflow is built as a chain of steps: a trigger, the steps in between, a result.
02 Why we work with it
The workflow stays visible and checkable — you can see which step did what, instead of a black box.
03 What it connects
ERP, CRM, document storage, e-mail, calendar and specialist systems talk to each other through n8n, without any of them being replaced.
04 Where the AI sits in the workflow
A language model takes exactly the one step that has to understand text or documents — the rest of the workflow stays ordinary, traceable logic.
05 Self-hosted or managed
n8n runs on your own servers in Switzerland or Europe where data residency decides it, or as a hosted service where it does not.
06 An example from practice
An invoice arrives by e-mail, is recognised, matched to the project data, put forward for approval and filed — five steps in one workflow. What such a workflow costs and saves is worked through in What a workflow costs and what it saves.
07 What n8n is not
Not a replacement for an ERP, a CRM or a document store, but the connection between them.
08 What it costs and what it asks for
The licence is the smaller part; the larger one is describing the workflow properly once and having someone who looks after it.
09 Our role
Robert Schröder is n8n Ambassador Switzerland and has developed several n8n community nodes, among them one for Abacus ERP.