The Federal Government’s poor IT performance is an old story, but it got renewed attention this week because of two new documents.  The first was Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel’s release of his final “Shared First” strategy document which sets guidelines that should lead to better returns on IT investment.  The other event was a memo from Lesley Field, Acting Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy.  Ms. Field laid out steps to make it easier for vendors to provide input and education so government can make smarter technology buys.

So much positive news in the space of a week had me feeling optimistic that we are on a path to stop wasting tax payer money and bring effective IT systems to government.  But my good mood ended when an e-mail hit my inbox with fresh evidence of some of the thinking and behaviors that have caused the Federal government’s IT investments to significantly underperform.

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Tags: , Appian Cloud, BPM for Federal Acquisitions, BPM for Government, BPM in the Cloud, BPM software, Business Process Management, Business Process Management and Government, Process Improvement for Government

Appian is on the road again after a short break following Appian World 2012 and the Gartner Business Process Management (BPM) Summit. If you are just learning about BPM, continuing your education, or wanting to learn about the latest industry trends and network with peers, we have an event for you.

First up is the annual ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum from May 15th to May 17th in Orlando, Florida. As the premier event for insurance technology, business, and networking, you will hear from and meet today’s thought leaders who are defining and shaping the industry’s future. Find us in booth #1117 in the Exhibit Hall, where you will see how Appian BPM can help your organization tap the power of process innovation in the mobile and social age, and learn why we are the leader in Mobile BPM. In the mean time, check out insurance solutions and customers who are using Appian BPM to make their business more competitive, more agile, and more intelligent.

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Tags: , BPM for Government, BPM for Insurance, Events, mobile BPM, Webinar

The concept of code ownership is always a touchy topic. When a vendor builds a custom application for you, who owns the code of that application? Your contract hopefully says that you do, but what does that really mean? Can you access the source code of the application, and if so, can you understand the source in order to fix a bug or make enhancements? Unless your developers were embedded in the contractor’s development team, chances are that you can’t.

This ability to “view the source” is at the heart of the various advantages a BPM software platform has over packaged applications, also known as Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) software.

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Tags: , Appian 6, Appian Cloud, BPM, Business Process Management

I’m the father of two young boys. It’s clear to me that the more Charlie and Henry learn to share, the better it is for everybody. Their play is more rewarding. They learn from each other. I don’t have to buy them two of everything.

Federal CIO Steven Van Roekel wants federal agency CIOs to embrace precisely that same lesson. Earlier this month, he announced finalization of the Federal IT Shared Services Strategy. This is big news, and BPM software can play a big role in helping government IT become “good sharers.”

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Tags: , Appian Cloud, BPM for Government, Government 2.0, Government and Efficiency, shared services, steven vanroekel

Among other reasons, Apple’s successful entry into the mobile market is largely due to designing and delivering an intuitive, intelligent, and mobile computing device into the hands of consumers. Although smartphones have been around since the early 90s, Apple unleashed the next generation of smarter, more intelligent phones that are also fun and easy to use.

The Business Process Management (BPM) market is also going through an evolution. The idea behind an intelligent BPM Suite (iBPMS) is that the BPMS as we know it needs to evolve and incorporate modern technologies to meet skyrocketing data consumption needs and an increasingly global, mobile, and tech savvy workforce.

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Tags: , Analytics, Gartner, iBPMS, mobile BPM, Social BPM

Do you know that smartphone sales grew 61.3% last year? Almost half a billion smartphones shipped globally in 2011 (Sources: IDC & MobiThinking.com). Besides calling and texting, today’s tech savvy consumers are also using smart phones for extended communications (e.g., emails, instant messaging, video chats and calls), engaging in social media activities, capturing and sharing multimedia content like photos, videos and music.

As we adapt how we live, work, and play in the mobile and social age, Business Process Management (BPM) systems should also evolve with consumer, market, and technology trends. As the leading innovator in social, mobile, and cloud BPM, Appian has many customers in production utilizing all or some aspects of these modern technologies.

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Tags: , Appian Cloud, BPM, customer experience, Gartner, Social BPM

Social media is pervasive and increasingly, an important communications channel. Anthony Bradley, Group Vice President in Gartner Research and author of The Social Organization, advocates that the real value of social media is massive collaboration. In his keynote at Gartner’s 2012 BPM Summit, the theme is combining social media and business process transformation to drive organization success.

Most people understand and agree that processes can be messy, hidden, chaotic, and unpredictable. Bradley asserts that some of the most important processes within an organization may not be structured and linear. So rather than trying to tame these ad hoc and unstructured processes, why not embrace and leverage social media, tap into the power of people to help discover, nurture, and improve business processes?

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Tags: , Appian Tempo, BPM, Collaboration, Gartner, Social

Two weeks ago I attended the Defense Procurement eBusiness Conference in Atlanta, GA. Like last year, Appian was a sponsor and exhibitor at the event, discussing and demonstrating the Acquisition Business Management solution built on our BPM software. The exhibit hall space was a little cramped this year, but I was happy to see so many people wade through our booth crowd to talk to us.

The particular conference presentation highlight for me was Richard Ginman’s presentation on Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy (DPAP) Initiatives and Efficiencies Priorities. I was already a big fan of DPAP given their recent efforts on the Procurement Data Standard (PDS) and the DoD Clause Logic service. Hearing Mr. Ginman speak just solidified my view that DPAP really understands the problems facing acquisition and is providing excellent guidance, support, and services to the DoD acquisition community.

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Tags: , BPM for Federal Acquisitions, BPM for Government, BPM software, federal procurement, Process Improvement for Government

Clay Richardson from Forrester Research is a proponent of tackling and structuring big data with big process. In a recent blog post and in his riveting keynote presentation at Appian World 2012, Richardson discussed the four cornerstones to successfully tackle and implement big process across the enterprise by:

• Transforming the customer experience with mobile and operational processes
• Embracing and anticipating chaos with dynamic case management
• Combining and applying the process context to big data to drive transformation
• Leveraging cloud to accelerate application delivery and minimize risks

Clay Richardson from Forrester at Appian World 2012

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Tags: , Appian World 2012, BPM, Cloud, customer experience, Forrester, partner

The final keynote presentation of Appian World 2012 was given by Neil Ward-Dutton from MWD Advisors. He presented “The New Way We Work: Towards Adaptive Case Management.” Ward-Dutton opened his presentation by stating that the nature of work is changing radically. There are three big challenges affecting businesses today: globalization – “connectedness” is driving sophisticated value chains; transparency – industry regulations, consumer pressure and competition are driving openness; and smart, connected markets – customers see the “online world” as the natural place to look for information and services.

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Tags: , Appian World 2012, Case Management, MWD Advisors