Ultra-Processed Mood: Appian Injects AI Deeper Into Business Workflows

Organizations run processes. At the highest level, everything in a business might be classified as a process from employee onboarding, onwards to sales outreach… and all the way down through finance and other daily operations. When the invitations go out for the staff party and the caterers get booked, there’s a process in established firms that governs the when, why and wherefore to make that thing happen.

But processes also work at a more defined level inside what is now our contemporary understanding of how a business runs. In this field, we don’t talk about peoples’ “jobs” per se, we talk about workflows, tasks, items and components. By doing so we are able to create a digitally encoded description of all the working mechanics a company operates with. With that process defined, we can then add to and subtract from it in a more controlled manner than simply getting everyone to sit at their desk and see how the day goes.

This of course is the arena of business process management, which in itself has become such a concrete de facto term that we now usually drop the “business” element (or even use the BPM acronym) and now just talk about process management.

AI, Subject To Regulations

Now more likely to describe itself as a business process specialist than refer to the cornucopia of low-code automation tools that the company is known for, Appian is now working to inject a higher degree of AI functions framed around process control into its core offering. So then, Appian Platform now expands a number of its AI capabilities, designed to enhance data and process automation for enterprises. The company says it is actively now delivering support for more enterprise AI use cases with expanded compliance, offering a framework to help organizations prepare for current and forthcoming AI regulations.

“Appian’s Copilot updates empower users to get faster answers from their enterprise data and documents, with plain language and fewer steps. AI Copilot and AI Skills also now meet HITRUST certification requirements. HITRUST certification is a security framework that provides a rigorous standardized approach to managing risk and protecting sensitive information, including compliance with HIPAA,” said Sanat Joshi, executive vice president of product and solutions at Appian.

Customers have been receptive. The Texas Department of Public Safety has used Appian to build and deploy a generative AI-powered chatbot designed to transformed the department’s procurement process.

“[Our] tool provides our procurement officials with immediate access to regulations, information and guidance on state contracting procedures, all while leveraging secure, internal data and offering precise citations. By streamlining access to critical information, the chatbot enhances efficiency and enables our staff to focus on delivering exceptional service to the public,” said Michael Parks, director of procurement & contract services at the Texas Department of Public Safety.

People, Technology… and Data (or Process)

Appian has also enhanced its Appian Platform data fabric, low-code and automation capabilities. These upgrades are designed to streamline workflows by integrating “people, technology and data” into a cohesive system, allowing users to tackle business challenges more efficiently and focus on higher-impact tasks. Enterprise technology vendors love this expression and people, technology and data (and the processes that that data exists in) is used extensively as a means of expressing just how far we can now push so-called digital transformation through automation intelligence.

Appian AI enhancements in the company’s 24.3 version release include AI Copilot for data fabric, which offers insights across an enterprise data stack within a unified chat space. The company insists that AI Copilot provides “transparent and trustworthy” answers, citing its source data for verification. This tool’s cousin technology is Appian’s Enterprise Copilot, which allows users to easily extract information across curated sets of documents by asking the AI engine itself. Users are able to make these queries without what the specific document set of information is that holds the business answers they seek..

“Appian AI Copilot empowers users to explore and understand their enterprise data more effectively, using natural language and fewer steps. Now, you can ask AI Copilot questions about your entire data catalog, providing comprehensive insights and enabling more informed decision-making,” said Sanat Joshi, Executive Vice President of Product and Solutions at Appian.

Process Investigations Uncover Decisions

As part of its roadmap update at this stage, Appian has enhanced its Process HQ product (a technology designed to automate and optimize business processes) with AI-suggested starting points. This headstart is intended to speed up users’ “process investigations” by offering AI-suggested views with key performance indicators, process details and filters, ensuring the right questions are being answered… all of which investigation process should (ideally, hopefully, usually) lead to businesspeople being able to make decisions.

There’s also some love for software engineers here i.e. Appian’s AI Copilot for developers is said to help programmers test-case generation for expression rules, both making test generation faster and increasing test coverage.

Do businesses run better once they have codified themselves down into a set of processes and put digitally tracked data values on every worker, piece of machinery and every screw, carpet and door handle? Market adoption (and the general hype surrounding digital transformation) suggests that this is the way forwards. It may not completely replace gut instinct, raw human decision making and customer goodwill… but it will surely augment it from front to back.

The ultra-processed mood is generally positive in business, but ultra-processed food is still really bad for you, so go easy on the white bread and sausages please.