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Tag: appian world

  • Appian World Recap: Low Code, BPI, Hackathon & The Woz

    Appian World Recap: Low Code, BPI, Hackathon & The Woz

    I had a chance to attend my first Appian World a few weeks ago. It was right in my backyard, at the iconic Fountainbleau in Miami Beach. I brought a video crew with me and had a chance to do some deep dive interviews with customers, partners and Appian execs. I will highlight those further down. The real story of Appian World, though, was about low code, business process management, hackathons and the Woz. I wrote a recap of the CEO’s keynote from the show, but wanted to follow up with more details.

    shimmy and wozAppian had announced a hackathon with the winners to be announced at Appian World after the judges—John Rymer, Steve Wozniak and myself—selected the winner from five or six finalists. The winner received a $5,000 cash prize. Contestants came from all over the world; some were teams from Appian partners and customers, while others were individuals.

    (Before I tell you more about the winner, let me say that judging this hackathon alongside Steve Wozniak was a personal bucket list moment for me. I did get a little giddy standing next to the Woz and talking with him about the hackathon contestants. But enough about me.)

    Back to the hackathon. After evaluating the finalists, we (the judges) decided that the winner best exemplified the spirit of a hackathon. Brad Cauzza created FRED, a facilities record database. Basically, using Appian low code app building and integrations, Brad built a system that allowed visitors to sign in when visiting a facility. It also tracked incoming packages and more. It was a really nice use of the Appian platform.

    There were some finalists who had grander applications, but we thought FRED was a great example of what you do at a hackathon. Below is my interview of Brad and Malcom Ross of Appian.

    While we are looking at interviews, I also had a chance to sit down for a deep dive with Appian founder and CEO Matt Calkins. Matt has guided Appian from a small group of he and his three co-founders all the way through to public entity. Appian is not an overnight wonder; it has been a 19-year trip for Matt and his team. He shared a lot of his views on this journey, as well as where he sees Appian going in the future.

    As I mentioned, there were actually four founders of Appian and they are all still with the company 19 years later. That is quite unusual, to say the least. I also had a chance to sit and chat at length with another Appian founder, Michael Beckley, who is CTO-founder of Appian, like Matt from day 1 all of those years ago. Here is my discussion with Michael:

    Over the course of the event I spoke with several Appian folks, as well as partners and customers. You can see the whole YouTube playlist of Appian World 2018 interviews on our DevOps TV YouTube channel.

    — Alan Shimel

  • Appian World CEO Keynote: Low Code for Sophisticated Applications

    Appian World CEO Keynote: Low Code for Sophisticated Applications

    Here I am at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for Appian World 2018, where the theme is “Transform.” The event, which is the biggest one yet with 1,500 registered attendees, is all about low code, and in his keynote address, CEO Matt Calkins emphasized that low code app-building isn’t for unsophisticated, simple apps—we don’t need powerful tools such as Appian for those. Rather, low code is for sophisticated apps to set free the renaissance that will happen with easier app-building.

    This is the first Appian World since the company went public last year, and the event has a public-company feel. I didn’t see a lot of people in jeans and t-shirts—most attendees were fairly well-dressed in business-casual, the mark of enterprises.

    appian worldOne of the touch points in Calkins’ keynote was reliance on open standards. Another was to make use of artificial intelligence (AI). I know AI and machine learning (ML) seem to be everywhere. It was interesting the company announced AI integrations with Amazon, Microsoft and Google, but no Apple or IBM Watson. I will ask Calkins about this when I interview him for DevOps TV later today.

    Calkins inherently believes that low code will set off a revolution as software continues to disrupt and empower the digital transformation revolution. The logic behind it is simple: “Making applications easier to make because you don’t have to code as much.” But Calkins emphasizes that does not mean you are making unsophisticated applications. The world doesn’t need low-code tools to make unsophisticated applications. It is the higher calling for sophisticated apps that Appian is all about.

    Another mantra from the keynote was, “Host anywhere, run anywhere, data anywhere.” The idea here is a true hybrid reality where data can be on-prem or apps hosted on public cloud, on containers or not. In fact, Calkins was very bullish on containers (who isn’t?). Docker integration is already available and he hinted at announcements regarding Kubernetes as well.

    Appian seems to have succeeded by becoming the low-code platform. With lots of integration and focus on making application development, management and deployment easier, the company has risen to the top of its market.

    Stay tuned for more updates from Appian World today and tomorrow.

    — Alan Shimel