Crawford & Company kicked off a slate of impressive customer stories. Brian Flynn, EVP & Global CIO, and Sergo Grigalashvili, Vice President, talked about “Galvanizing Action in Times of Catastrophe.” The insurance industry does its best to plan for all possibilities, but in times of major catastrophe, planning is impossible – and decisive action is what’s needed. We learned how Crawford uses worksocial technology to rally its resources and ensure smooth operations when “worst-case” scenarios come to pass.

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Tags: , Appian World 2013 liveblog, Crawford & Company

Last week’s Forrester Forum in Orlando started off with a thought-provoking bang. Forrester VPs Kyle McNabb and James McQuivey delivered a one-two punch on the nature of digital disruption (the conference theme), and its implications for business. The key take-away: embracing digital disruption is an opportunity find fundamentally new ways of doing business. That’s what Appian customers are doing with our worksocial technology.

Kyle gave the set-up: digital disruption is changing the IT landscape through new software-powered digital capabilities (i.e., Social and Mobile). It is destructive to legacy applications and processes. It is not a trend or a fad, because society as a whole has embraced it. It is changing IT from being “supportive of the business” to being “the fabric of business itself.”

James delivered the knock-out: we always talk about technology adoption, the point being that “adopters of new technology do old things in new ways.” Digital disruption, instead, requires technology “internalization” to spark entirely new ways of thinking about what modern business can be.

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Tags: , Forrester, mobile BPM, Social BPM, Social Business Software, worksocial

An important factor in the buying decision for any large capital purchase is determining the “total cost of ownership.”  For example, in purchasing a new car, you take into consideration not just the selling price, but the gas mileage, expected breakdown frequency, average cost of repairs, etc.

The same general approach also applies when evaluating multi-million dollar software investments that you hope will be the backbone of your operations for the next 10 or 15 years.  But the factors for consideration are very different in technology-based purchases.  It’s imperative to get this process right if you want to have a system that fits your needs, provides the highest benefit, and has the lowest lifecycle cost of ownership.  There are two common mistake areas in TCO analysis that everyone should note and avoid.

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Tags: , Appian, BPM, BPM for Federal Acquisitions, BPM for Government, Business Process Management

One of the most common phrases uttered at last week’s Insurance Accounting and Systems Association (IASA) show was “legacy modernization.”  It was the central topic in many of the educational sessions and a common talking point on the trade show floor.

But what was missing from these conversations was recognition that modernizing an IT system without rethinking the way your organization gets work done is only a few steps above “putting lipstick on a pig.”

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Tags: , Appian, BPM, BPM for Insurance, Business Process Management

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 Software 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 famous German statesman, Otto von Bismark, is credited with saying “Politics is the art of the possible.”  So too goes technology, particularly in insurance.  Lots of things are theoretically possible to do with insurance information systems, if there are no constraints on resources.  Insurance CIOs are never in that position.  In fact, they are in the opposite corner, struggling to maintain legacy systems and still squeeze out some budget for technological innovations that will delight customers and employees.  For them, developing new innovations is “the art of the possible.”  In practice, not much can get accomplished, which is why so many insurers find themselves technologically behind.

That state of affairs is being upended as will be demonstrated at next week’s Appian World conference.

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Tags: , Appian World 2012, BPM for Insurance, BPM in the Cloud, BPM software, Business Process Management, Cloud Computing

Appian World 2012 is coming up fast. If you haven’t yet registered for the premier complimentary event for Appian customers, partners and the Business Process Management community at-large, do it today!

At the conference you’ll hear BPM visions and predictions from a variety of industry experts (Gartner, Forrester, Kemsley Design, MWD Advisors, Michael zur Muehlen). You’ll also get all sorts of product insights and tips (and yes, free training) from Appian experts. But beyond all of that, the best reason for a BPM professional to attend Appian World is to hear success stories, lessons-learned and best-practices from other in-the-trenches BPM professionals.

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Tags: , Appian World 2012, BPM for Financial Services, BPM for Government, BPM for Insurance, BPM in the Cloud, mobile BPM, Social BPM

Tammy Erickson wrote a great blog post a few weeks ago on the Harvard Business Review’s website titled, “Why We Use Social Media in Our Personal Lives — But Not for Work.”  One phrase in particular really grabbed me.  “The use of collaborative technology for work will continue to grow over the years ahead because when it’s used properly, social technology enables a very different level of performance. Your competition will shift the playing field in your industry by integrating this technology into how work gets done if you don’t. This train is leaving the station.”

I couldn’t agree more.  Tammy’s blog is one more drumbeat that insurance leaders need to heed.  Insurers must break the cycle of legacy application maintenance eating their budgets so they can invest in new technologies and get ahead of the competition.  Yes, I know.  That last statement is a platitude.  Before you click your mouse to move on because you think this blog post will add nothing new, consider what’s not a platitude.  The smartest insurance companies are already investing in capabilities to rapidly create their own custom tailored applications with social media and mobile capabilities already fully integrated.  Not only is the train leaving the station, it’s a bullet train.

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Tags: , Appian, Process Management, Social, Social BPM

The insurance industry is at the forefront in understanding the need for process improvement. At the same time, insurance is an industry particularly hampered by aging, brittle and burdensome IT systems. Hear what Forrester Research thinks insurance companies need to know in a one-hour webinar on Thursday, February 16 at 11:00am EST. Ellen Carney, Forrester Research Senior Analyst and insurance industry expert, will be our guest for “Fueling Insurance Provider Success with BPM.” Click the link to register today.

The webinar is co-sponsored by Appian’s insurance solution partner, MajeskoMastek. MajescoMastek has teamed with Appian around a series of templates and frameworks to accelerate implementation of crucial BPM for Insurance solutions.

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Tags: , BPM for Insurance, Forrester, MajeskoMastek, process improvement for insurance

There’s nothing like an initial public offering (IPO) to get people to sit up and notice a company.  IPOs are only possible when companies are delivering novel solutions that offer great value and facilitate strong revenue growth.  That’s the case with Guidewire, a software company that’s built enterprise applications to support the core systems of property & casualty (P&C) insurers.

But a closer inspection of Guidewire, made possible through their IPO regulatory filings, shows their solutions are novel only in comparison to the ancient IT systems and paper-based processes used extensively by P&C insurers today.  Guidewire is a big advance over those, but only a few steps in the BPM direction.

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Tags: , Appian, BPM for Insurance, Business Process Management, Forrester