Mobility means information and communication access virtually anywhere, anytime. It’s become commonplace in the private sector. But how can Federal agencies implement bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and other mobility strategies while meeting technical challenges and ensuring data and networks remain secure?

Government agencies need to formulate plans for agile, trusted, and productive mobile computing. To help in this endeavor, Appian is proud to sponsor the 2012 Mobile Government Conference taking place today in Washington, DC.

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Tags: , Appian, BPM for Government, mobile BPM, mobility

Is the Federal Government trying to put round pegs in square holes?  That certainly seems to be the case with the acquisition and contract writing systems they are buying. 

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

Appian is a proud sponsor of CXO Media’s “CIO Perspectives” conference series. Today, we’ll be at CIO Perspectives Boston.  CIO Perspectives meetings, which are one-day executive events for senior IT leaders at mid- to large-sized organizations in the private and public sectors, always provide compelling, content-rich networking where CIOs and senior executives can collaborate on business and technology issues.

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Tags: , Appian, application sprawl, Business Process Management, CIO Perspectives, mobile BPM, 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

We’ve all been there.  It’s the end of a software company’s presentation showing you how their application will be able to solve all your problems.  Life with them will be total bliss.  You find yourself eager to sign up and put the pain of your current software application behind you.

What’s the antidote for the spell that good sales people put on you?  Ask for a copy of their end user license agreement (EULA).  Here you’ll find all the caveats and disclaimers that will bring you back down from Cloud 9 and let you see reality for what it is.

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Tags: , Appian, BPM for Federal Acquisitions, BPM for Government, Business Process Management, Government and Efficiency, mobile BPM, Process Improvement for Government, Social BPM

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

Vivek Kundra, the first Federal Government CIO, was the keynote speaker at a trade show I attended last week.  This was my first time hearing him tell his personal story of leading government IT transformation.  Vivek recounted a number of specific government IT failures with dollars attached on a scale I’m not used to working with.  It’s no wonder that every agency CIO now finds themselves on the hot seat.

Compounding the challenge for agency CIOs is a series of new initiatives from the Office of the Federal CIO.  These initiatives provide important guidelines CIOs are required to follow in the quest for more effective and cost efficient applications.  However, those guidelines do not lay out a specific approach likely to lead to success, leaving it up to CIOs and their staffs to find their own way.

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Tags: , Appian, BPM for Federal Acquisitions, BPM for Government, Business Process Management, Business Process Management and Government, Government 2.0, Government and Efficiency, Process Improvement for Government

In preparation for Appian World 2012, and for a limited time only, the price for the Appian Certified Application Designer exam has been reduced to $349.

The Appian Certification Program allows individuals to demonstrate they have the required skills to successfully deliver Appian applications with high quality and according to Appian best practices. The certification validates that participants have a thorough understanding of how to build process-based applications in the Appian environment, including designing the application, data types, process models, forms, reports and dashboards.

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Tags: , Appian, Appian Forum, BPM certification, Business Process Management

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

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