LONDON, UK – FEBRUARY 16: A slice of white bread is photographed in London on February 16, 2018. Recent research by a team of researchers from the Sorbonne University in Paris suggests that “ultra-processed” foods such as mass-produced bread, pre-prepared meals, instant noodles, fizzy drinks, sweets and potato chips are linked to an increase in cancer. (Photo Illustration by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Getty Images
Organizations run processes. At the highest level, everything in a company can be classified as a process, from employee onboarding to sales to finances and other day-to-day operations. Once the invitations have been sent and the caterer booked for a staff party, an established company has a process that governs when, why, and where it happens.
But process also operates on a more tangible level, within the understanding of how modern businesses operate. In this field, instead of talking about people's “jobs” per se, we talk about workflows, tasks, items, components. In doing so, we can create a digitally encoded description of all the working mechanisms by which your company operates. Once that process is defined, things can be added to and removed from it in a more controlled way than simply having everyone sit down at a desk and see how things are progressing that day.
This is of course the field of Business Process Management, and it has become such a specific de facto term in its own right that we now usually drop the “business” element (or use the acronym BPM) and just talk about process management.
AI becomes a target for regulation
Appian, which now sees itself more as a business process expert than the wealth of low-code automation tools that characterize the company, is currently working to incorporate advanced AI capabilities with a focus on process control into its core products. Thus, the Appian Platform expands its array of AI capabilities designed to enhance enterprise data and process automation. The company says that with its compliance expansion, it is proactively providing support for more enterprise AI use cases, providing a framework to help organizations prepare for current and upcoming AI regulations.
“Appian's Copilot updates enable users to get answers from enterprise data and documents faster, in language they can understand, and with fewer steps. AI Copilot and AI Skills also meet HITRUST certification requirements, 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 products and solutions at Appian.
Customers are reacting positively: The Texas Department of Public Safety used Appian to build and deploy a generative, AI-powered chatbot designed to transform the department's procurement process.
“Our tools provide procurement officers with instant access to regulations, information and guidance for state contracting processes, leverage secure internal data, and provide accurate quotes. By streamlining access to critical information, the chatbot increases efficiency and allows employees to focus on providing great service to our citizens,” said Michael Parks, director of Procurement and Contracting Services for the Texas Department of Public Safety.
People, Technology, and Data (or Process)
Appian has also enhanced the data fabric, low-code, and automation capabilities of the Appian platform. These upgrades are designed to streamline workflows by integrating “people, technology, and data” into one system, allowing users to efficiently tackle business challenges and focus on high-impact tasks. Enterprise technology vendors love the phrase, and it's widely used as a way to describe how far people, technology, and data (and the processes in which that data resides) can drive so-called digital transformation through automated intelligence.
Appian's AI enhancements in the 24.3 version release include AI Copilot for Data Fabric, which provides insights across the enterprise data stack within a unified chat space. The company claims that AI Copilot provides “transparent and trustworthy” answers, citing source data for validation. A similar technology to this tool is Appian's Enterprise Copilot, which allows users to easily extract information from curated document sets by asking questions of the AI engine itself. Users can run these queries without knowing what specific document information set contains the business answer they are looking for.
“Appian AI Copilot empowers users to more effectively explore and understand their enterprise data using natural language and fewer steps. By asking AI Copilot questions of their entire data catalog, they get comprehensive insights to make more informed decisions,” said Sanat Joshi, executive vice president of products and solutions at Appian.
Process research illuminates decision making
As part of the current roadmap update, Appian has enhanced its Process HQ product (a technology aimed at automating and optimizing business processes) with AI-suggested starting points. This early launch is aimed at speeding up users' “process exploration” by providing AI-suggested views with key performance indicators, process details, and filters to help answer the right questions. All of this exploration should (ideally, hopefully, usually) empower business people to make decisions.
There's a bit of love here for software engineers, too: Appian's AI Copilot for developers, for example, helps programmers generate test cases for expression rules, purportedly speeding up test generation and increasing test coverage.
Would a business run better if it were codified into a set of processes, with every worker, machine, screw, carpet, and doorknob having digitally tracked data value? Market adoption (and the general hype surrounding digital transformation) suggests this is the way forward. It may not completely replace intuition, raw human decision-making, and customer goodwill, but it will certainly enhance them from front to back.
Although the climate in the business world is generally positive towards ultra-processed foods, they are still bad for you, so avoid white bread and sausages.
