Appian World 2016 Highlights the Rise of the Citizen Developer

At Appian World, Appian released Quick Apps, which enable citizen developers to create enterprise apps in 15 minutes or less with no technical knowledge.

Appian CEO Matt Calkins spoke to the more than 1,200 attendees about his company’s strong growth with over 50 percent increase in software bookings year over year. He also discussed the importance of the customer journey and how Appian’s customers that have transformed customer experience through digital means.

Forrester Research’s Principal Analyst Clay Richardson discussed the emergence of citizen developers and the popularity of low-code apps—a fast growing market that will reach $15.49 billion by 2020. Because over 40 percent of developers are self-taught, low-code apps are rising in popularity with the customization of drag-and-drop features. Additionally, the Department of Labor is predicting a shortage of professional developers by 2020, creating a growing need for citizen developers who can build sophisticated enterprise apps.

Sprint’s Director of IT Kathy Eichholz talked about how the company used Appian to consolidate and streamline its complex and siloed BPM infrastructure. Sprint was able to streamline more than 400 applications, retire 50 percent of older applications, eliminate mainframes and close two data centers. With Appian, the wireless company launched the new direct-to-home sales program “Sprint Direct 2 You” in two weeks.

At the event, Malcolm Ross, vice president of product marketing at Appian, discussed the new Quick Apps feature on the latest version of the Appian Platform. With Quick Apps, citizen developers can create fully functional enterprise applications in 15 minutes or less with no technical knowledge. There is no coding required. The Quick Apps Designer simply prompts users for the key points of their application. It is now available to Appian customers worldwide.

Appian’s Ross detailed the new user, designer and administrator capabilities in the latest quarterly update of the Appian Platform. In addition to Quick Apps, users get a 25 percent wider tempo with expanded views as well as better data sourcing, configuration and customer record picker features. In addition, it has improvements for Android, including barcode scanning and native camera usage. For designers, the App Wizard has the ability to define the data source and scaffolding of the application. This photo shows Baxter, a robot powered by Appian.

Phillip Merrell, vice president of IS Strategy & Shared Services at AmeriHealth Caritas, talked about the expanding health care ecosystem, its growing focus on population management and treating patients more holistically. Appian was a transformational tool for AmeriHealth’s provider operations. Results included improved provider networks, complete and accurate data, reduced administrative and IT costs through automation of task assignments, and the ability to scale new care delivery. For members, this means increased effectiveness of medical spending with quality provider information and more informed provider decisions.

In a creative demonstration, Erik Wahl, graffiti artist, bestselling author and entrepreneur, showed how he harnessed his own creativity into actionable solutions. Utilizing original artwork created onstage, Wahl discussed the value of creativity and of unleashing it in a corporate setting by reprogramming our minds—a termed he coined “Unthink.”

Andus Baker, senior vice president of Oversight and Investment Operations at Fidelity Investments, presented a case study of the Appian-based Fidelity Information Portal (FIP). FIP connects Fidelity employees and counterparty business partners in a collaborative, data-oriented and process-driven framework in the cloud.

Josh Seeman (pictured), director of process and software quality at Janus Capital, and Sudhir Kulkarni, president of digital at Persistent Systems, gave a deep dive into using Appian for the creation and approval of marketing materials at Janus. Seeman shared Janus’ mobile transformation story via a partnership with Persistent to build a new case management application.

Food and Drug Administration Deputy CIO Brad Wintermute laid out the agency’s strategic plan for digital transformation through 2018. He also detailed the FDA’s Mobility Roadmap. Plus, he discussed the need for a mechanism that allows a runway for the long-term government procurement process.