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

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 is a regular sponsor of CXO Media’s “CIO Perspectives” conference series. At tomorrow’s CIO Perspectives New York, our CEO Matt Calkins will discuss Appian’s vision for BPM software in the modern age of mobility, cloud computing and social business collaboration.

This will be a preview of the keynote presentation Matt will deliver next week at Appian World 2012. Pre-registration for the conference is closing this week, so make sure you sign up.

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Tags: , Appian World 2012, BPM in the Cloud, BPM software, Business Process Management Software, CIO Perspectives, mobile BPM, Social BPM

Mobile access to processes and information has been a key point of differentiation for Appian for the past year.   Appian now leads the market in Mobile BPM and still remains the only BPMS vendor with a native mobile application for all leading mobile platforms (Apple, Android, and Blackberry).

For Appian World 2012, we are inviting all of our attendees to “Go Mobile”.  The Appian mobile apps will de deployed to enable real-time access to the Appian World 2012 conference from any mobile device allowing attendees to engage with: More »

Tags: , Appian World 2012, Mobile, mobile BPM

Our CEO, Matt Calkins, calls the current state of Business Process Management software offerings “feature-incomplete.” The flurry of BPM technology acquisitions by stack vendors over the last two-plus years may create an attendant assumption that the market has “matured.” While important leaps forward have been made, Appian believes BPM software has yet to reach its true functional potential and organizational value.

The true value of Business Process Management software will not be realized through the improvement of discrete processes. Not even through the holistic and centralized governance of a variety of core processes. BPM software will truly emerge as the best way to organize and execute work when it becomes the single platform, and the single environment for unifying and presenting all the systems, data and collaboration a decision maker needs, in the moment they are needed.

BPM software isn’t there yet, and it’s on-going evolution will not be driven by stack vendors already consumed with sorting out their Frankenstein’s Monster BPM product portfolios. Appian remains exclusively dedicated to pushing the envelope on what BPM software is and what it can do. You can hear more about Appian’s vision, and how the next version of our product will take us all closer to it, by attending Appian World 2012.

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Tags: , Appian Cloud, Appian World 2012, BPM in the Cloud, Business Process Management Software, mobile BPM, Social BPM

Federal procurement practices continue to be a hot topic of discussion as government agencies look for new ways to comply with Obama Administration mandates to reduce waste, deliver projects more quickly, and increase the efficiency and transparency of operations. Many federal procurement teams are turning to BPM software and Appian’s Acquisition Business Management solution to eliminate mountains of paperwork and reach higher levels of performance faster.

Appian is participating in two important federal procurement events in the near future: ACT-IAC Acquisition Excellence 2012 (March 29 in Washington, DC) and the Defense Procurement eBusiness Conference (April 10-12 in Atlanta).

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Tags: , BPM for Federal Acquisitions, BPM for Government, BPM in the Cloud, mobile BPM

Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for…ERP. These monolithic, cumbersome and inflexible systems are not up to the challenges and requirements of the Mobile, Cloud and Social Age. If you have experience dealing with an ERP system – simply using one or, heaven help you, trying to extend one to fit the changing needs of your business and your customers – you already understand the problems. If you don’t, Forrester Research and Forbes Magazine have two quick primers for you.

The question is this: What does the demise of ERP mean for companies that have sunk massive investments into these antiquated beasts? Must they either forsake those investments and even throw good money after bad through massive rip-and-replace efforts, or just continue to suffer and struggle? Thankfully, modern BPM software offers a third way.

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Tags: , BPM in the Cloud, BPM software, Enterprise Resource Planning, ERP, mobile BPM, Social BPM

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

It has happened thousands of times now in corporate IT.  An executive walks into the IT department carrying his shiny new iPad and asks how to access all his important business systems from the device.  Tomorrow, Apple will announce the iPad 3, and yet, many IT departments are still struggling to support these new generation of mobile devices beyond simple email and calendar functionality.

As mobile devices have rapidly evolved, a number of myths about capabilities and implementation concerns have evolved.  But, while there are many challenges, the need to support these mobile devices has now become a mandate.  What once was a lone executive asking for iPad support is now an uprising of the masses asking to support a myriad of platforms and devices.  IT can no longer ignore the trend and must start fundamentally changing the way applications are developed, data is secured, and services are delivered to support this new mobile workforce. More »

Tags: , iPad, mobile BPM, mobile security

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