Event-Based Automation vs. Polling: What's the Difference and Why Event-Based Wins

In the world of process automation, getting your systems to talk to each other and initiate actions at the right time is crucial. Two primary methods typically come to mind: polling and event-based automation. While both aim to trigger actions, they operate on fundamentally different principles with significant implications for efficiency, cost, and responsiveness.

At Triggers.do, we champion event-based workflow automation. This post explores the difference between these two approaches and highlights why event-based methods, powered by platforms like ours, are the superior choice for modern workflow initiation.

Polling: The "Is It Time Yet?" Approach

Think of polling like constantly asking "Is it time yet?" Imagine a system that needs to check for new orders. With polling, the system would repeatedly send requests to the order database at regular intervals (e.g., every minute, every hour).

How Polling Works:

1. Set an Interval: A set time interval is defined (e.g., 5 minutes).
2. Send a Request: At each interval, the system sends a request to a target system (like a database or API).
3. Check for Changes: The target system responds, and the polling system checks if the condition has been met (e.g., are there new orders?).
4. Repeat: This process repeats indefinitely.

Drawbacks of Polling:

• Inefficiency: Most of the time, the answer to "Is it time yet?" is "No." This leads to unnecessary requests, consuming resources and bandwidth.
• Latency: There's a delay between the event actually happening and the polling system discovering it. If your interval is 5 minutes, a new order could sit undetected for almost that entire time.
• Scalability Issues: As the number of systems to poll and the polling frequency increase, the load on both the polling system and the target systems grows significantly, leading to performance bottlenecks.
• Cost: Increased resource usage translates to higher operational costs.

Event-Based Automation: The "Tell Me When It Happens" Approach

Event-based automation, on the other hand, is reactive. Instead of constantly checking, the system waits for a specific event to tell it that something has happened.

How Event-Based Automation Works (with Triggers.do):

1. Define the Trigger: You define a trigger based on a specific event (e.g., order.created) from a specific source system (e.g., ecommerce-platform).
2. Listen for Events: Your Triggers.do platform is set up to listen for these specific events from your connected systems.
3. Receive the Event: When the event occurs in the source system, that system sends a notification (often via webhooks or an API).
4. Activate the Trigger: Triggers.do receives the event.
5. Apply Filters (Optional): You can define filters within the trigger to only activate under certain conditions (e.g., amount > 100).
6. Initiate Workflow: If the event matches the trigger and filter criteria, the defined workflow is automatically initiated in real-time.

Here's a simplified code example using Triggers.do:

import { Trigger } from 'triggers.do';

const newOrderTrigger = new Trigger({
  name: 'New Order Created',
  description: 'Triggers when a new order is created in the system',
  event: 'order.created',
  source: 'ecommerce-platform', // Listen for events from your e-commerce platform
  filter: {
    condition: 'amount > 100', // Only trigger for orders over $100
    priority: 'high'
  },
  handler: async (event) => {
    // Process the event data and start the relevant workflow
    return {
      workflowId: 'order-processing-premium', // Initiate a specific workflow
      data: event.data // Pass the order data to the workflow
    };
  }
});

Advantages of Event-Based Automation:

• Efficiency: Triggers only activate when an event occurs, eliminating unnecessary requests and reducing resource consumption.
• Real-Time Responsiveness: Workflows are initiated the moment an event happens, leading to faster and more responsive business processes.
• Scalability: Event-based systems are generally easier to scale as they handle requests when they arrive rather than constantly polling.
• Decoupling: Systems are loosely coupled. The source system doesn't need to know what workflows will run, only that it needs to send an event notification.
• Lower Cost: Reduced resource usage and improved efficiency contribute to lower operational expenses.

Why Choose Event-Based Automation with Triggers.do?

Triggers.do is purpose-built for event-based workflow automation. We help you connect to various systems and define powerful triggers that act as the intelligent entry point for your automated processes.

• Comprehensive Event Handling: Our platform is designed to receive and process events from a multitude of sources.
• Flexible Trigger Definition: Easily define triggers based on specific events, sources, and detailed filter conditions.
• Real-Time Workflow Initiation: Ensure your workflows start instantly when the relevant events occur.
• Connect Any System: Integrate with your existing applications through APIs, webhooks, and connectors.

Start Workflows When Events Happen

With Triggers.do, you can automatically initiate workflows based on events from any system. Create responsive business processes that react to changes in real-time.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How does Triggers.do automate workflows? Triggers.do allows you to define specific conditions and events from various systems that, when met, automatically initiate your defined workflows.
• What types of events can trigger a workflow? Triggers can be based on events like new data entries, status changes, external system notifications, scheduled intervals, and many more depending on your connected data sources.
• Can I set conditions for when a trigger activates? Yes, you can define custom filters within each trigger to ensure workflows only run when specific criteria within the event data are matched.
• What systems can Triggers.do connect to? Triggers.do integrates with a wide range of systems and applications through APIs, webhooks, and pre-built connectors to receive event data.

Conclusion

While polling has its place in some scenarios, event-based automation is the clear winner for building efficient, real-time, and scalable workflow automation. By leveraging a platform like Triggers.do, you can move beyond the limitations of polling and create dynamic, responsive business processes that react intelligently to the events happening across your organization.

Ready to experience the power of event-based automation? Learn more about Triggers.do and how you can Start Workflows When Events Happen.