No-Code SMB Workflow Automation: discover the magic of AppSheet with Gemini

If productivity is already very important in any company, in SMBs it is simply essential. Being efficient in managing tasks when you have a small team is absolutely key. It is no longer just about being efficient, but about being competitive. In this context, automating the most repetitive workflows makes a huge difference.

And this is where the combination of no-code development and automation with artificial intelligence really stands out. With AppSheet and Gemini, productivity steps up a level without having to resort to costly custom developments. No-code automation in SMBs is completely transformed thanks to Google Workspace.

Why no-code automation fits SMBs so well

In many SMBs, managing daily tasks relies on spreadsheets, emails and, all too often, improvised forms that grow without a clear enough strategy. Every new customer, every order and every incident adds a new layer of complexity, until we end up having to invest more and more hours copying data, checking statuses and fixing small but costly errors. In this context, workflow automation with no-code tools offers us a structured and very simple way out of something that could otherwise destabilise our operations.

When we talk about No-Code SMB Workflow Automation we mean the ability to design complete processes based on visual rules and existing data, without writing a single line of code. With this approach it is easy for us to turn our internal procedures into applications and automations that move the work forward, collect information and trigger actions in other systems whenever we manually perform an operation.

AppSheet and Gemini: the best way to create applications

AppSheet is part of Google Cloud and integrates directly with all the apps and services we already enjoy in Google Workspace. The service lets us build applications and automations on top of the data we already manage in tools such as Sheets, Drive or Gmail. A truly powerful platform that, because of where it sits, is directly embedded in the core of our operations.

AppSheet Core is included in many Workspace editions, so we can spin up new projects very easily. If that is not the case, for 10 dollars per user per month in the standalone plans that include Gemini features, we can access a service whose return on investment we will see almost instantly through automation.

Gemini, Google’s artificial intelligence model, acts as a very capable collaborator within the Google AppSheet automation system. With just a few sentences, it can help us create the automation we need so that, instead of starting from a blank page, we describe our process and directly receive a proposed structure of tables, fields and relationships which, with just a few tweaks, will be ready to run. This is the magic of AppSheet with Google Gemini.

From the My Apps page we go to the editor and tap the option to create an app with Gemini. This opens a chat interface where we describe our process. From here, the creation cycle boils down to three steps which, in short, are as follows:

1. We write a description of our use case, for example “management of facility inspections with weekly reports and assignment of owners”. Gemini directly interprets the case and proposes tables such as Inspectors, Facilities, Inspections and Reports, already set up with their basic columns. From a single sentence we move to a data structure that matches our real process.
2. We review that proposed structure either in the Gemini chat itself or in the table editor, add any fields we consider appropriate — for example, an image column to attach photos to an inspection — and adjust the names and data types according to our specific needs.
3. We confirm the structure and let AppSheet generate the initial application with views, actions and forms already in place. From there, we go into the visual editor to customise colours, icons, permissions and the automation logic.

Unlike traditional developments, this approach is extremely iterative: the people who use the process fine-tune the rules themselves, the views and the automations as they use the application. AppSheet records every change and, of course, keeps a version history, which allows the team to move forward knowing that we can always roll back.

AppSheet + Gemini: AI in charge of events, conditions and automatic actions

Beyond app creation, AppSheet offers us an automation engine that links events and conditions with subsequent actions. We can trigger flows when a record is created or updated, when a certain email arrives, or according to a predefined schedule. From there, we can send emails, write to other tables, call different APIs or invoke Apps Script functions.

As before, the foundations and the power are there, and Google’s AI, Gemini, lets us work with them in a new way. We can create anything from tasks that extract information from images or PDFs to automatic text classification. The AI analyses the data and returns the fields ready to be stored in our tables and then continue with the flow.

AppSheet relies both on its own integrated database and on the connections we configure with spreadsheets, SQL databases, Salesforce, Dropbox and other services. With this flexibility we can design very lightweight yet powerful applications based on the data we already manage. The application we created a few paragraphs ago grows, the information is organised and automation works intelligently for us thanks to AI.

When it comes to governance, which we cannot overlook, AppSheet includes security controls, encryption options and usage policies that we can manage from the central Workspace console. Google does not use our Workspace data (e.g., AppSheet data or Sheets content) to train Gemini models. We can restrict who creates apps, what data they work with and where they send information.

All in all, in the combination of AppSheet and Gemini we find a completely new way of automating our company. If app creation and the automation system were already available in AppSheet, with Gemini they become much more accessible. They also become much more capable when it comes to processing information. And this, without a single line of code, is where our operational efficiency levels up.

Use cases of No-Code SMB Workflow Automation with AppSheet and Gemini

With the theory covered, let’s talk about some practical examples. Of course, every SMB is unique, but most share very similar parts: tracking sales opportunities, coordinating teams, inventory control, incident management or customer support.

Here AppSheet with Gemini lets us cover these scenarios with applications adapted to our specific case.

Operations and customer service

Companies with teams on the move, such as technical services, installations, logistics or maintenance, will find great advantages in AppSheet. Through forms, which can work even offline, teams can log visits, capture photos, geolocate incidents and even capture validation signatures from customers. All this information reaches the office in real time and feeds the different dashboards that show us the workload and the status of each service in an up-to-date way.

With Gemini, the AppSheet flow becomes even richer. Let’s imagine an intervention form where the technician attaches a photo of the equipment to be repaired and adds a brief description. We can configure an automation task that, using AI, reads that image and that text, extracts the type of incident, classifies its severity and proposes the next step based on the rules we have defined. What to do next? We have several options:

• Automatic sending of emails or internal chat messages when an incident with a certain severity level enters the system, so that the support team can prioritise it.
• Updating a shared status board in Sheets or Looker Studio when a visit is closed, to know how many jobs are still pending in the area.
• Generation of an intervention report in PDF that AppSheet saves in Drive and links to our CRM, with the text drafted by Gemini based on the data entered during the visit.

Sales, inventory and administration

In the sales area, many SMBs manage opportunities and orders from spreadsheets that, all too often, grow without a well-defined structure. With AppSheet, those sheets turn into mobile and web applications with forms, filters, charts and real-time alerts and, as a result, a system that supports every stage of the sales cycle.

Gemini helps us with tasks such as distributing opportunities, prioritising certain accounts or preparing summaries before a meeting or to present results. With an automation we create, we can analyse the history of interactions with a customer stored in the app, generate a summary and then suggest the best time to make a call, according to our past success patterns.

Something very similar happens in inventory and administration. With an app in AppSheet we can centralise all our stock in- and outflows, log physical counts from a mobile phone and receive alerts as we approach certain thresholds. From there, we can export the data or connect directly to our billing, purchasing and accounting flows so that Gemini can support us in tasks such as product classification or detecting consumption patterns.

Human resources and a culture of continuous improvement

HR teams in an SMB often work with different tools to manage hires, departures, training, evaluations and also all internal policies. Here AppSheet allows us to design an internal portal where each employee can find their pending tasks, fill in forms, consult documentation and record their participation in company initiatives.

Gemini stands out here in a capability that is key in virtually any company: the ability to analyse all the comments and draw conclusions. An automation flow can gather the responses from, for example, an employee engagement survey, generate a summary of the most frequently mentioned topics and propose ideas.

With AppSheet and Gemini, any feedback on a form, a view, an app or an automation can be turned into quick changes from the editor, without having to wait for development cycles. Employees themselves feed the system, which is in constant evolution and improvement.

AppSheet with Google Gemini is the winning combination

With Google Gemini, the expression No-Code SMB Workflow Automation takes on a very concrete meaning. For an SMB, it means that the next improvement to our processes can come from the person who uses that process every day. A system in which AppSheet and Gemini allow us to design, automate and deploy a solution in a matter of days.

The first step is the simplest: identify a relevant process within the organisation, describe it in the Gemini prompt box in AppSheet and let the platform propose an app for us. From there, each iteration adds to learning, adoption and captures new opportunities. For SMBs, having the power of AppSheet and Gemini radically changes their perspective. Instead of us working for the applications, we have applications that work for us.