From IPOs, Digital Transformation, and Low Code to Complexity Reduction

Proceeds from the U.S. IPO market from January 2017 through April 2017 has reached $18.3 billion, nearly the number hit in all of 2014: $21.3B (Wall Street Journal, Dealogic). There is also a whisper conversation about companies not going public Qualtrics recently received $180 million in private funding, and there are reports that WeWork is going to close a private round of $3 billion to push off the public markets for a year. With numbers like that I wonder about ‘small’ technology companies like Appian approaching the public markets looking to raise $86.25M; it does have unicorn status, with a recent valuation over $1 billion. I really like what Appian is doing, accelerating digital transformation, a well-liked low code platform and a purposeful solution to dynamic case management; a complex beast of its own.

(see Appian’s full G2 Crowd user-ratings here)

Low Code, No Code and No Excuses

Computer programming languages have a storied history. Each new generation of programming language attempts to further abstract the complexity (of the machine) from the programmer. Programming language generations have names like 3GL and 4GL—creative right? We are at an inflection point: Programming no longer requires code, however design matters more than ever. Some call it low code, some call it no code, I call it risky, because design still matters; wait, I just said that a moment ago—it is important enough to say twice. The more we abstract code from the ‘programmer,’ the less anyone really understands what is going on under the covers. Artificial Intelligence is the asymptote of this risk. I am poking the bear a bit, as I am not really worried about the code per se, I am worried about some things being just a bit too easy. I come from the era of measure twice, cut once. I am not convinced that anyone carries a tape measure any more.

Just because you can, does not mean you should

Technology has made our lives easier at work, at home and at all the places in-between. Some refer to this as digital transformation; the pen has been replaced by e-signature, Alexa is ready to automate my home and Google is there to tell me how to get from point A to point B. We are increasingly abstracted from the complexity running our lives and businesses. Is the business world ready for this level of abstraction? In the world of business and specifically the technology behind business, the nuances of how things work is becoming more important but less understood. Some say this is good, I am not sure. I could take this down the rabbit hole of artificial intelligence, but I am not. For that, Rob and team can wax poetic on AI as a whole. I am going to jump down another rabbit hole: programming without coding. If proper consideration is given to design, Appian does seem like a solid choice.

If you do want to learn more about AI, you can get the week's top AI news here’

Connecting the Dots Between Business Process and Software

The programmatic part of business process management (BPM) is not the hard part—deciding what to code and creating a clear articulation of the process is where time should be spent. Appian seems to be able to help with this process, given everyone agrees with the approach. In reviewing its materials, I can see that Appian has a few different marketing and product messages; connecting digital transformation to low-code in the context of BPM is the most interesting. Taking this one step further, building a digital bridge to dynamic case management is inferred and possibly a stretch. Dynamic case management is hard.

A “case” is any project, transaction, service or response that is “opened” and “closed” over a period of time to achieve resolution of a problem, claim, request, proposal, development or other complex activity. It is likely to involve multiple persons inside and outside of the organization, with varying relationships to each other, as well as multiple documents and messages. If this sounds complicated, that is because it is complicated.

Sure, a platform play here is a good thing, even a great thing. Is this a separate application? Will someone acquire Appian (many a CRM vendor could use a solid BPM engine that works). There is a place and a time for the Nike moment—“Just do it”—and then there is the ‘take time and think about what you are about to do.’ What is the correct balance? Just because you can, does it mean you should? I am suggesting that a little bit of planning—just a little—is time well spent. Just sayin’.

Like some of my comments regarding the Cloudera IPO, this is some great technology and Appian appears to be a solid company with successes under its belt. It takes a considerable amount of research as a technologist and investor to determine where it goes next and how its problem can accelerate business transformation. In the end, Digital Transformation is now in the complexity reduction phase. Hiding complexity for those who need to understand it is not the same as making sure those who need to understand it, do - this will be fun to watch, that is for sure!