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Posted on January 13th, 2012 by Evan McDonnell
It’s no secret that the business of insurance is getting more and more competitive. Thanks to numerous comparison sites on the internet, it’s easier than ever to quickly find just what you need. As consumers, we’re all benefiting from more options, easier selection, and lower prices. But for insurance companies, all of this transparency is another matter.
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Posted on November 18th, 2011 by Ben Farrell
Appian World 2012 is coming! If you haven’t done it yet, get registered today. The complimentary event will feature customer presentations, topical and timely panel discussions, Appian technology insights and free training, and loads of networking and knowledge sharing. It will also give you a chance to hear from four separate analyst organizations. Daryl Plummer (Gartner), Clay Richardson (Forrester), Sandy Kemsley (Column 2) and Neil Ward-Dutton (MWD Advisors) will deliver presentations on various aspects of BPM software, its usage today, and where it is headed tomorrow.
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Posted on November 17th, 2011 by Ben Farrell
Earlier this week, we announced the opening of our new Australia/New Zealand regional headquarters office in Sydney. The market for BPM Software across ANZ is growing rapidly. Economies across Asia-Pacific appear to be much stronger than in other areas of the world right now. Australia, in particular, has done very well through this protracted period of global economic crisis. According to Dr. Michael Rosemann of the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), as quoted in a recent interview with Gartner, Inc. (subscription required), the country had the second-strongest currency in the world in 2010.
Economic strength means business growth, which demands scalable business processes and invites innovation. That’s why Appian already has an impressive roster of customers in the region – customers that are expanding BPM projects into enterprise-wide BPM programs – and it’s why we expect continued growth in the area. Dedicated Appian sales and professional services staff in-country will help us capitalize on the opportunity, and will ensure the success of our customers in the region.
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Posted on November 9th, 2011 by Ben Farrell
The thing parents keep telling their kids about the internet – about how once you put something up, it never goes away – is equally good advice for all of us. That Wayback Machine never forgets. A trip through the BPM software world of the internet archives is an interesting thing, because it shows what a difference a corporate acquisition can make in someone’s opinions. Let’s hop in the machine and take a little trip:
“Today one of our customers said they were told by IBM: “why spend your money with Lombardi, we’ll give you our BPMS for free.” I finally agree 100% with IBM on something: their BPMS is worth nothing. Getting a cheap BPMS is like buying a dancing elephant for a dollar: cool, but who can afford to feed it?”
That’s Phil Gilbert talking. Or rather, Phil Gilbert back when he was president and CTO of Lombardi. Today’s Phil Gilbert is head of BPM at IBM. Say it again, Phil: “Their BPMS is worth nothing.”
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Posted on October 18th, 2011 by Evan McDonnell
I recently gave my “Business Process Management 101” talk at a meeting of the National Credit Business Exchange. The audience was eager to learn about a new approach to software and peppered me with questions, showing their excitement and enthusiasm. But I noticed the enthusiasm waning in my discussions with the group after my talk as reality quickly set in. The reason for the decline is exemplified in the comment I got from one attendee.
The words this person used were powerful and telling. But I got more from their body language which showed the excitement I had generated ended up bringing back painful memories. I knew right then and there that they wouldn’t even bring this to their IT department leader and a chance for their company to gain a competitive advantage was lost.
I wonder what this person’s CEO would have thought if they had been a fly on the wall for this conversation. How did we get here?
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Posted on October 6th, 2011 by Evan McDonnell
I recently went through the process of getting a new individual life insurance policy, something that’s done thousands of times a day across the country. My experience is a cautionary tale for leaders of insurance companies everywhere. When the process was finally complete, and I signed the last policy document, I wrote beneath my signature, “P.S. I hate you!”
If you like consumer frustration stories, read on and you’ll be entertained. If you are in the insurance business, you definitely want to read my tale of woe as I also lay out how to easily delight customers and earn superior profits.
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Posted on September 13th, 2011 by Evan McDonnell
Software applications have become the central nervous system of large companies. Everything those companies do to deliver their goods or services is governed by or assisted through software. A company’s success in the marketplace is therefore a function of how refined and capable their software is, and how quickly they can adapt it to changing needs in the market. Companies that “play to win” have found ways to make their software a key asset. Companies that don’t are merely “playing not to lose.”
Which type are you? Read on to find out.
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Posted on August 23rd, 2011 by Ben Farrell
Clay Richardson at Forrester Research has just published a great research paper on “The ROI of BPM Suites.” Clay puts forward some very exciting market data demonstrating the enormous business value of process improvement through BPM software. He also gives insightful prescriptive guidance on how to plan, measure and maximize BPM suite return on investment. According to Clay’s data, “implementing a BPM suite produced an expected return on investment (ROI) of 58% and a net present value (NPV) of $1,585,457 over three years via an on-premises deployment.”
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Posted on August 15th, 2011 by sid.nazareth
Social BPM looks a lot like Facebook and Twitter but, unlike those platforms, it is dramatically increasing worker productivity.
What is Social BPM? It’s an activity-stream interface that allows workers to more effectively manage their business processes. You can use Social BPM to handle critical events, collaborate with subject matter experts, initiate processes and consume personalized information; all with pinpoint enterprise security and auditability in a zero-training interface.
Below is an example showing how an ERP system can automatically post critical time-sensitive information to Appian’s Social BPM interface.
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Posted on July 6th, 2011 by Evan McDonnell
I was in a meeting last week with an Appian client who wanted our professional services team to help with some enhancements. This client had already achieved great success using our business process management software in financial operations for an order-to-cash process. That success allowed their team to get approval from their CFO to expand the use of Appian to cover other financial operations processes such as purchase-to-pay and capital expenditure requests. With so much going on, work demand exceeded their internal team’s capacity so they asked us to help with enhancements to the original order-to-cash application. I looked at their list of enhancement requests and the first thing that popped into my mind was the MTV show “Pimp My Ride.”
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