# What does an AI automation agency actually deliver?

Many AI automation agencies deliver workflows: steps connected across the apps a company already pays for, often on n8n, Make or Zapier. Some run what they build; some support it for a set period. Before signing, ask what the work rests on, who owns it, and who keeps it current as your company changes.

Kicker: Agency deliverables
Checked: 2026-09-28

## What changes hands

| Dimension | A workflow agency, often | OCTYN |
| --- | --- | --- |
| How it starts | An unpaid call about your needs | A paid mapping that measures how the work runs today |
| What you are sold | Workflows connecting the apps you already use | One system built for your company, end to end |
| What it rests on | A workflow vendor, with its limits and per-run pricing | Code written for the job, on your own accounts where the work calls for it |
| The price | Per project, by the hour or by the month | One fixed price in writing, then a monthly fee to run it |
| After launch | Support for a set period, or a retainer | Run by the people who built it, and re-set when the company changes |

## What you are usually buying

An agency that sells automation is usually selling connections: a form feeds a sheet, the sheet feeds a message, a model drafts a reply in between. That is useful work, and for a single task it is often enough. The limits show up later, when the steps live inside a vendor's account and every run is billed by that vendor.

## Three questions that tell them apart

1. What does the work rest on? If the answer is a workflow vendor, its limits and its prices become yours.
2. Who owns it? The data, the specs, the configuration and the code should be yours, in writing.
3. Who keeps it current? A company changes: a new product, a new market, a new rule. Ask who re-sets the work when it does, and for how long.

## What OCTYN delivers instead

A map of the work as it runs today, a baseline measured before anything is built, and one fixed price in writing. Then one system built for your company, run after launch by the people who built it, and judged against that baseline. Your data, specs, configuration and code stay yours.

## Dated record

- Of twelve firms buyers ask about, three name n8n, Make, Zapier or Airtable as what they build on (recorded 2026-09-28)
- Of the same twelve, six say on their own site who owns what they build (recorded 2026-09-28)

## Bears on

- [Operations systems](https://octyn.co/systems/operations)

## Related

- [OCTYN beside the firms buyers ask about](https://octyn.co/compare/firms)
- [A glued workflow versus a built system at 10,000 runs a month](https://octyn.co/compare/glued-workflow-vs-built-system)
- [How to choose an AI automation agency](https://octyn.co/compare/how-to-choose-an-ai-automation-agency)

Canonical: https://octyn.co/compare/what-an-ai-automation-agency-delivers