I couldn't end this series on the primary themes discussed at the recent National Contract Management Association's (NCMA) Government Contract Management Conference without including budget concerns. Budget cutbacks and their effects on the acquisition community were an inescapable topic throughout the event.
Appian's BPM software platform and Acquisition Business Management (ABM) solution can't increase a contracting organization's budget or magically produce more 1102s. It can, however, help make existing resources more effective while allowing an organization to start small and incrementally tackle their acquisition system issues.
Appian ABM implementations have successfully automated tasks and provided efficiency gains for our numerous government acquisition customers. By removing manually intensive tasks and automating them in the Appian solution, contracting staff are able to spend more time on value added tasks. And it doesn't have to be done all at once. Many of our acquisition customers have used an Appian ABM solution to help augment their existing systems, or to bridge gaps between systems. The Appian solution does not need to be a costly rip-and-replace, all-or-nothing proposition. We encourage our customers to tackle their most pressing issues first and build their solutions incrementally. This helps reduce implementation costs while also increasing return on investment.
Parting Thoughts
The NCMA Government Contract Management Conference painted a vivid picture of many of the challenges facing the acquisition community over the next few years. The Appian ABM solution is available to help meet many of these challenges and I look forward to working with the acquisition community to help provide innovative solutions to the contracting workforce and their customers.
As a final reminder, you can see the power of Appian's Acquisition Business Management solution for yourself. Come to Appian World 2012, April 15-17 at the Reston Hyatt outside D.C. to see solution demonstrations and to hear presentations around roundtable discussions on next-generation IT for acquisition professionals. Register here.
-Ben Allen, Appian Professional Services
