REST doesn't tell you what to do with the information after it's created or updated. Everything you might want to do through a web interface can pass to the server through the narrow funnel of CRUD.
It might seem that an exception to that would be to initiate some action off the server: send a fax, send some emails... but you can also look at these instances as changing the state on the server such that such action is requested. It's then up to another process on the server to respond to the changes and update the state on the server to show the results of that action.
Oh, I agree with the exception statement. That sort of shoe-horning is exactly what goes on when you REST up a rich web-app. But how does it simplify anything?
It might seem that an exception to that would be to initiate some action off the server: send a fax, send some emails... but you can also look at these instances as changing the state on the server such that such action is requested. It's then up to another process on the server to respond to the changes and update the state on the server to show the results of that action.