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?

More »

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

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.

More »

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

More »

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

More »

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.

More »

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.

More »

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

Things are moving fast in the world of BPM. Even experienced process pros who have already logged years in the trenches are confronting new realities and requirements related to the rise of enterprise mobility, social technologies and cloud computing. So the question is, “What is process improvement in the Age of Mobile, Social and Cloud?

The answer: it is an opportunity. Come to Appian World 2012 and find out why. Regardless of whether you’re a seasoned pro or a process improvement newbie, mobile/social/cloud can get you to the next level fast.

More »

Tags: , Appian World 2012, BPM, BPM in the Cloud, mobile BPM, process improvement, Social BPM

CIO released its 2012 “State of the CIO” survey results in January. The summary article states that, “Overall, as 2012 unfolds, companies plan to complete major initiatives using technologies that they expect will change the role of CIO… These include analytics, cloud, mobility and social media.” CIOs in regions throughout the U.S. will examine what precisely that means for them during the 2012 CIO Perspectives event series, produced by CIO Magazine.

As a sponsor of the series, Appian will be on-hand to discuss how our Mobile, Cloud and Social BPM combines with real-time predictive analytics to deliver smarter processes that automatically adjust based on new events. This is what Gartner calls “Intelligent Business Operations (IBO),” and it is a path to corporate Super-Star status for the CIO.

More »

Tags: , BPM in the Cloud, CIO, CIO Perspectives, intelligent business operations, mobile BPM, Social, Social BPM

I enjoyed Adam Deane’s recent post on “BPM: Priorities.” He points out how limited typical BPM systems are in dealing with the complexities of how work actually gets done based on the often chaotic nature of how business and task priorities constantly change. In my opinion, this is where Social BPM capabilities become so critical.

The problem is, most BPM software vendors (and frankly, many industry pundits) have a limited view of what Social BPM really is. They relegate it to collaborative process design – making it easier for a handful of pre-designated people to work together in developing a process diagram. This is, at best, a single. The grand-slam homerun happens when Social BPM is applied to real-time collaborations across all employees (and customers) while business processes are being executed.

More »

Tags: , Appian 6, BPM for Case Management, Business Process Management, Social, Social BPM, social technology

Earlier this week we announced Appian’s results for 2011. In the immortal words of Frank Sinatra, “it was a very good year.” The numbers speak for themselves: 90 new-name customers, a 219 percent jump in license orders over 2010, and nearly 40 percent of total orders coming for Appian Cloud.

The story behind the numbers is testament to how enterprise mobility, social collaboration and cloud computing are reshaping the IT landscape. Appian’s Mobile BPM, Cloud BPM and Social BPM address the broken state of enterprise software today.

More »

Tags: , Appian, Appian 6, Appian Cloud, BPM in the Cloud, mobile BPM, Social, Social BPM