“Disconnected is no way to work. While social and mobile technologies inch into the workplace, leading firms push for mile-wide advances.”

So says Investor’s Business Daily‘s Sonja Carberry in a piece from last week’s edition called “Social, Mobile Tools Close Business Gaps; Get Connected.” Ms. Carberry spoke with a number of social/mobile enterprise visionaries for their tips on getting the most business value from – and executive support for – the consumerization of IT. Her top three insights come from Appian CEO Matt Calkins. They discussed the ways Appian customers are using our worksocial platform to embrace a new world of IT and business possibilities using social business software.

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Tags: , Appian World, enterprise social software, investor's business daily, mobile BPM, Social Business Software, worksocial

Tags: , Analytics, BPM, BPM software, BYOD, Cloud Computing, enterprise social software, iBPMS, intelligent BPM, mobile BPM, mobile security, Social Business Software, worksocial

The number of emails, documents, files, and content we come across seems to grow every day. Today’s knowledge workers need a way to organize, search, and access information quickly and easily. The ability to gather data and insight enables productivity, better and faster client service, higher job satisfaction, and more revenue for the company. Furthermore, following standard processes, having the flexibility to make changes and accommodate exceptions, and being able to collaborate are requirements for a modern, agile workplace with consistency and quality

 
Skilled workers like lawyers, doctors, nurses, case workers, recruiters, account managers, and executives are examples of today’s knowledge workers who need access to information to provide quality service. They need to easily find all the documents, correspondence, and key information on clients, patients, prospects, partners, or accounts to make critical decisions, take actions, and accomplish business goals. More »

Tags: , BPM, BPM software, Cloud BPM, enterprise social software, Social BPM, Social Business Software, worksocial

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

Atlanta-based Car Stereo Plus (CSP) is an auto dealer expediter. That means they’re the folks who trick out your new ride with extras like GPS, a kicking sound system, leather seats and those shiny spinning rims (if you’re into that sort of thing). They are a small company, about 40 employees, in a market with much larger competitors. They are also the latest company to realize the immense benefits of Appian’s worksocial technology.

CSP co-owner Foster Lee knows that the secret to his company’s success in the Atlanta region – and its ability to grow into other markets – is based on closely connecting a distributed field force to core company processes. Automotive customers are a demanding and fickle bunch (when someone spends a lot of money on a new car, they want it the way they want it, and they want it fast). Keeping CSP’s auto dealer customer happy means deliver excellent service on the cars and trucks those dealers’ customers are buying.

“Worksocial from Appian has turbo-charged our operations and increased our competitive edge,” said Lee. “It is an easy-to-use platform for mobile- and social-based work that is deeply integrated with our core systems and data. Comparing our previous systems to Appian is like comparing a horse and plow to a tractor.”

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

Forbes.com has just run a piece that is a must-read for anyone contemplating how social technologies should be used in the enterprise. “Completing the Social Business Transformation: A Manifesto,” by Dan Woods, is a clear-headed reminder that we are still at the tip of the iceberg in realizing the value of social business technology – and that most enterprise social tools are woefully immature from a business value perspective.

“It is possible,” he writes of Jive, Chatter, Yammer, etc., ”to see these suites as the end of the road, as the culmination of a set of capabilities into a product category that will last for 30 or 40 years like ERP or CRM. I reject that view and instead assert that the culmination of Social Business will instead be a new paradigm that changes how knowledge is captured, how processes are designed, how applications are created, and how work gets done.” (emphasis added).

Appian knows what to call that new paradigm: worksocial. We are the only vendor that is delivering it today.

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Tags: , BPM software, Forbes, mobile BPM, Social BPM, Social Business Software, worksocial

Worksocial is powerful, and that power is being used to address one of the most urgent issues in America today: unemployment. As reported by Government Computer News, the Dept. of Veterans Affairs is using Appian case management for mobile and social engagement with U.S. veterans to help them find government and civilian work.

At a recent VA Job Fair in Detroit, volunteer event support staff spent a matter of minutes getting used to the simple Appian social interface, then used iPads to register, schedule meetings and track progress for thousands of attending veterns. The result, according to the Veterans Employment Services Office (VESO), was that more than 1,300 veterans received tentative job offers, and close to 800 more scored second-round interviews. I can’t think of a more powerful testament to the connectedness and rapid action that just one day of worksocial can deliver.

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Tags: , BPM for Government, Business Process Management, Cloud BPM, enterprise mobility, Social Business Software, worksocial

As the recognized market leader in modern BPM software with 3.5 million users worldwide, Appian knows how to deliver the technology and software applications to improve workforce productivity. While traditional enterprise backend systems are dominated by complex software applications like ERP and CRM, the number of social business and collaboration technologies have been sprawling like mushrooms. These technologies provide new ways for us to work, to be social, communicate, and interact with others. Yet these applications remain divided and separated, while tangible business value and return on investment varies widely.

This ‘state of separation’ between systems, departments, employees, and ultimately, between the organization and its customers and partners, creates enormous challenges for the enterprise. If employees cannot collaborate with the users of other systems, valuable insights are lost. When subject matter experts and employees with particular insight into a given issue are excluded from collaboration, poor business decisions and actions will be made.

If the organization cannot provide a consistent, high-quality customer experience due to the siloed nature of data and systems, customer churn increases and revenue decreases. What could be more critical for a business?

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Tags: , BPM, Social Business Software, Webinar, worksocial

Washington Business Journal recently published a thought-leadership piece from Appian CTO Michael Beckley on social in the enterprise. The piece contrasts the flood of “enterprise social platforms” on the market to Appian’s worksocial approach of marrying social (and mobile) directly to the business events and business data that drive an organization.

“Enterprise social platforms deliver better communication – but communication about what?” Mike asks. ”They don’t hear about or post system-generated business events in real-time. They don’t track collaboration in the context of an auditable business process. They are no better than e-mail at enforcing business rules, ensuring quality task completion, and measuring process improvement. Where’s the highly touted social advantage?”

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Tags: , enterprise mobility, mobile BPM, Social BPM, Social Business Software, social technology, worksocial

Are you stuck in a work rut? Perhaps you are tired of dealing with another pile of paperwork, sifting through tens or hundreds of emails to find that one you need, waiting to hear back from your colleague with that customer information, or not knowing what when your purchase request will be approved. No wonder nearly 20% of time spent online is on social media sites. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterests, and other popular sites became the modern escapes from work that people do from their desk and from their smartphones.

 
What if work gets social? You will be able to check status updates, upload and share content, approve or reject requests like you would with friends and followers. Except these would be a multi-million dollar sales opportunity you’re monitoring, a global supply chain contract that’s going through rounds of client and legal reviews, or a new data center service request. Furthermore, imagine having the ability to execute and work from your phone while you are at a client meeting, at the supplier’s factory in a foreign country, or at a facility thousands of miles away from your office. More »

Tags: , Cloud, mobile BPM, Social BPM, Social Business Software, Webinar, worksocial