I work on the system administration side. I have customers who develop their applications on it for sourcing and procurement. In the past, it has been mostly related to nuclear facility management and risk applications.
Export Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Low-code, faster time-to-market, and helpful support
Pros and Cons
- "The low code functionality and being able to get applications faster to customers or to the market are valuable."
- "There should be more flexibility for the developers to choose the look and feel of the UI. They should have a better ability to design their widgets and customize them with different colors, shapes, and sizes. That is a limitation that could be improved upon."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The low code functionality and being able to get applications faster to customers or to the market are valuable.
What needs improvement?
There should be more flexibility for the developers to choose the look and feel of the UI. They should have a better ability to design their widgets and customize them with different colors, shapes, and sizes. That is a limitation that could be improved upon.
I would like to be able to integrate Appian and store various codes in external repos rather than just having everything within the Appian platform.
It should integrate with open source a little bit more. There should be more flexibility and integration with various other tools in the organization, such as Jira and Confluence for release tracking, bug tracking, and being able to automatically tag items related to bug fixes and things like that. It is currently a little bit difficult to do in Appian. If it opens up to external integrations, it would be great.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for about 10 years.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is pretty stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable. You can horizontally scale the servers to add more nodes and have a clustered and high-availability environment.
Currently, we have about 20,000 users in the company. For maintenance, we have a big team of about 50 people, but they don't maintain just this environment. There are a couple of other environments that they maintain.
How are customer service and support?
I have interacted with them several times. They're pretty good, pretty helpful, and knowledgeable. So far, it has been great.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I didn't use any other BPM solution prior to Appian. Appian was my first solution. Prior to that, I was basically developing applications from scratch using J2EE. In that aspect, Appian has been very helpful in getting the applications out very fast.
How was the initial setup?
Its initial setup was not complex. It has been a pretty straightforward installation for the most part. There have been a few changes over the years in the support of app servers, and they've improved the functionality. Initially, it needed more work, but recently, they have added a lot of functionalities to be able to deploy quickly and migrate the code between environments. There used to be a few more steps previously, whereas now, it takes just a few clicks to get the code from one environment to another and finally into production.
What about the implementation team?
It was implemented in-house.
What was our ROI?
I don't work on that side of things, but I have worked with various implementations of Appian in various organizations. Everybody seems to be liking it very much. They seem to be sticking with it for a long time and adopting it for more and more applications and different organizations within the company. I've seen good success with Appian across organizations.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise starting small and developing applications in phases and adding as you grow. It is a pretty scalable environment, and it is easy to start small and learn along the way to be able to develop high-performance, complex applications.
I would rate it an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

Software Architect at BABEL Group
Creating user interfaces is highly productive when these interfaces are integrated with the original database
Pros and Cons
- "The most productive aspect of Appian lies in its ability to develop interfaces, particularly user interfaces. Creating user interfaces is highly productive, when these interfaces are integrated with the original database. In such cases, using record types proves to be a very efficient method of handling data. The synergy between interfaces and record types enhances productivity."
What is our primary use case?
Appian is a platform that focuses on human-centric workflows around processes. It facilitates requests for policies or incidents involving groups of people. The application manages the workflow between individuals to negotiate and confirm these policies.
How has it helped my organization?
Appian is managed and upgraded regularly.
What is most valuable?
The most productive aspect of Appian lies in its ability to develop interfaces, particularly user interfaces. Creating user interfaces is highly productive when these interfaces are integrated with the original database. In such cases, using record types proves to be a very efficient method of handling data. The synergy between interfaces and record types enhances productivity.
What needs improvement?
The case management studio is still immature, but it looks very nice. However, the VPN should be improved. The case management system needs improvement, but it has some promising features. Appian has the commitment to continuous improvement. With each new release, they enhance the platform for all users.Currently, making changes requires too much backend development work. They're working on streamlining this process, particularly with VPN integration. As it stands, storing everything in memory doesn't effectively handle large datasets. Transitioning VPN processes to a more traditional database approach would greatly improve scalability and usability in real-world scenarios
When the sentences are too long, they become difficult to manage. The scalability is low, when they become complex. The integrations are fine. There are some minor errors and details, but it does a great job in explaining errors within Appian. Internally, there is much information to help you understand what's going on, but not always. Sometimes, it's difficult to know what's happening, but these instances are rare.
Architecturally, there is an issue with Appian that it tends to put all the applications in the same infrastructure. Big customers resort to having several installations of Appian to deploy different applications in different infrastructures. They face the problem of managing assignments. Appian should make it easy to deploy different applications in separate infrastructures. Additionally, there needs to be a way to unify them because without using VPN, users are left without a unified inbox. Applications can't use the VPN and have to resort to their own solutions to show users their work, leading to inconsistency. Since each application is different, it becomes crucial to have a centralized point where users can find their work. Even if the applications are split into different installations, there needs to be a single way for users to find all their work.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Appian for two to three years. We are the using V24 of the solution.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution's stability is better.
I rate the solution’s stability an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is difficult to scale. 1,000-2,000 users are using this solution.
I rate the solution’s scalability a six out of ten.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used SoftEther VPN.
How was the initial setup?
I rate the initial setup a seven out of ten, where one is difficult, and ten is easy.
What about the implementation team?
The platform was set up by third party.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is expensive.
I rate the product’s pricing an eight out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated Outsystems. Appian is much proactive to create solutions applications.
What other advice do I have?
The most frustrating aspect is its DPM offering. It fails to support VPN due to its limited scalability. You can only use the VPN for isolated cases. When attempting to apply it in a real-world scenario with multiple applications, it becomes unusable due to its lack of scalability. It boosts everything into memory.
It is very easy to develop interfaces and access data with Appian. The local code acts as a communicator. The interfaces function as record types, and the logic you program use special rules, which resemble a kind of functional language exclusive. This combination of user interfaces and record types, along with the special rules, is very productive. You typically need to write much less code compared to other platforms
Intergration is good.
I recommend the solution, One should evaluate the VPN needs very closely. Not everybody needs VPN, but those who do should take a closer look to avoid surprises. You can use VPN in Appian, but it's somewhat different from what you might expect.
Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Solutions Architect at Persistence System
The solution has a very strong workflow engine, but it needs to improve its UI capabilities
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of Appian are workflow management and the ease with which you can build the UI."
- "One of the areas that Appian is working on is to improve its UI capabilities and give more flexibility to the UI."
What is our primary use case?
We use Appian for the automation of processes. The solution is typically used to automate case management.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Appian are workflow management and the ease with which you can build the UI.
What needs improvement?
One of the areas that Appian is working on is to improve its UI capabilities and give more flexibility to the UI.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with the solution for around seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Appian is a very stable solution. We've never faced any huge glitches or bugs with the solution.
I rate Appian ten out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Appian is a scalable solution. However, we have to be a bit cautious if large volumes of data are being exchanged and if there are any use cases to transform the data in between.
I rate Appian a six out of ten for scalability.
How are customer service and support?
Appian's technical support is pretty decent. The support team responds on time and sticks to their SLAs, which is good. Appian provides good support from an infrastructure and platform perspective.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
What about the implementation team?
Appian's deployment is pretty good. To run your deployment processes, it has separate built-in utilities and tools to deploy packages across the environment. I work for a services company, and I have built applications for some of our clients leveraging Appian as a platform, which is used probably every day.
What other advice do I have?
I am using the latest version of Appian. Appian is deployed on Appian's own cloud in our organization.
Appian has a very strong workflow engine compared to other solutions like OutSystems and Mendix. I would definitely recommend Appian to someone who is looking for strong workflow and process capabilities. However, I recommend other platforms like OutSystems and Mendix to someone looking to build their own mobile app or looking for a lot more flexibility with respect to user experiences.
Appian is a pretty good tool. It's a low-code platform where you can start building your applications pretty fast. It has got really good workflow capabilities and a very good process engine. The solution has started integrating with cognitive services, RPA, and other services, which are probably at their initial stages, but the platform's roadmap is really good. Appian is definitely a platform to explore if you are considering a low-code platform to be part of your tech portfolio.
Overall, I rate Appian a seven out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. partner
Application Architect at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Reliable, allows for rapid deployment of solutions, and has excellent support
Pros and Cons
- "Technical support is quite responsive."
- "If that had more DevOps capabilities, it would be an excellent product."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution internally. It is for internal front ends for capturing transactions and then managing the workflows and sending them to back-end systems.
What is most valuable?
The rapid deployment of solutions is excellent.
It's cloud-based, and it was a smooth transition from the cloud to on-premises. We've really enjoyed the automatic updates. We never have to manually upgrade to the latest platform. It saves us some work. The cloud setup is simple.
The solution is very stable.
It can scale well.
Technical support is quite responsive.
What needs improvement?
We have a growing need for more DevOps for deploying branching strategies, and Appian is not great at that. If that had more DevOps capabilities, it would be an excellent product.
On-premises setup can take a while.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've used the solution for the last five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We've only had one 15-minute downtime incident that was related to an AWS hardware issue in their 1AZ. That wasn't Appian's fault. That was it. It's been pretty stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. I'd rate the solution's stability nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution can scale.
They've promised they will bring out Kubernetes, which we currently don't have. Right now, it vertically scales. There is no horizontal scaling yet.
So far, we've scaled from 4XL to 8XL without issue. I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.
We have 400 users on the solution right now.
We do plan to increase usage. The solution is mission-critical.
How are customer service and support?
Pi and P2 issues get responses within a couple of minutes. Support is very responsive.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did try to shoehorn Cibo into doing everything. We unbundled it into different domains.
How was the initial setup?
If you do the setup, there is a bit of a learning curve you have during the initial setup. On the cloud, the deployment is much easier. They spin it up for you and manage it for you. It's less work. For the on-premises deployment, I'd rate the ease of setup six out of ten. It took a few months to deploy. Cloud deployment, of course, is much easier since there really is nothing to do. We deployed over a weekend.
We deploy every month. It takes a couple of minutes to deploy the latest features.
We run a lean show and only have about five people dealing with the solution. There's an architect, two engineers, and a few QAs.
What about the implementation team?
We have an integrator helping us from India.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't deal with licensing. However, my understanding is that it's not the most expensive. It is moderate. I'd rate the pricing seven out of ten in terms of how expensive it is.
What other advice do I have?
We're a financial institution, and we're customers.
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.
I'd advise users to choose their implementation partner very carefully. Do the due diligence on the implementation partner for the best results.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Digital Lead at Baker Tilly
Excellent support with a quick development cycle and competitive pricing
Pros and Cons
- "Technical support has been amazing overall."
- "If we could calculate the amount of data that will be realized, it would help us a lot."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for application creation and process automation.
How has it helped my organization?
We have 15 different applications running from CRM applications to case management applications, and we are using some RPA functions. We have a big stack of applications we are using.
What is most valuable?
The quick development cycle is great.
The ease of development is great.
It's a stable product.
The solution scales well.
There is no issue with setting it up. It's easy.
Pricing is very competitive.
Technical support has been amazing overall.
What needs improvement?
There needs some improvement related to the chatbot features.
The performance could improve. If we could calculate the amount of data that will be realized, it would help us a lot.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for three years. I've used it for a while.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We'd had no issues in the past three years. It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I'd rate the scalability ten out of ten. It's excellent.
We have the maximum license, and we do not plan to increase usage as we do not have plans to increase our workforce.
How are customer service and support?
Techncial su[port is excelelnt. It's one of the best companies offering support right now.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. It's pretty easy. It's not complex.
What was our ROI?
We have witnessed an ROI while using the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is very competitive. It is not overly expensive.
What other advice do I have?
We have the solution implemented in our firm.
New users need to understand the technical aspects of the product in order to take full advantage.
I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Intelligent Automation Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
User-friendly, fully managed, with responsive technical support
Pros and Cons
- "It is really simple to create a new app, and I like the data-centric aspect of the BPM tool."
- "The performance is pretty good, but the distortions need to be optimized in order for it to work well."
What is our primary use case?
We use Appian for a variety of processes in our large company. We use it for some financial processes, such as approvals.
How has it helped my organization?
Appian had definitely improved the productivity, and functionality of our company.
What is most valuable?
It is really simple to create a new app, and I like the data-centric aspect of the BPM tool.
What needs improvement?
In terms of what could be improved, there is nothing worth mentioning.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Appian for one year.
We are using the second most recent version.
We use the Appian managed cloud.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The performance is pretty good, but the distortions need to be optimized in order for it to work well.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have not yet experienced the requirement for scalability.
We have 100 people in our company who use this solution.
We use this solution widely throughout the company. As I am new to the company, I cannot say whether we will increase or decrease our usage.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is good. They are responsive and were able to resolve my issues.
I would rate the technical support a five out of five.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, I used IBM BPM, on a limited scale. I am not able to make a comparison.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. It was easy even for a developer.
The development itself can take a month or two to deploy.
We have 10 to 20 people to maintain this solution in our organization.
What about the implementation team?
We used a third-party reseller and a consultant because we are a large company.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I am not aware of the licensing cost. It is handled by someone else.
It is fully managed, and I don't believe there are any additional expenses.
What other advice do I have?
It's a good, solution, that is easy to use. If you are a large corporation, go for it.
I would rate Appian a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Easy to install and setup and has accessible process orchestration
Pros and Cons
- "Appian is easy to install and set up, and it does not come out with your audit. It has accessible process orchestration and process management. With Appian, the time to market is much faster."
- "I would like to see more features for enterprises. They would also benefit from adding documentation and training on their site."
What is our primary use case?
Our organization uses Appian for content management for our documentation. We are also using the solution for endpoint authentication in our clinic for clinical trials. In terms of banking, we use Appian for contract and access management.
Over the past 13 years, we have implemented Appian for 53 customers.
What is most valuable?
Appian is easy to install and set up, and it does not come out with your audit. It has accessible process orchestration and process management. With Appian, the time to market is much faster.
What needs improvement?
We are anticipating a few improvements from Appian. The product competes well with peer platforms, however, when you compare past that scale, there is room for improvement.
I would like to see more features for enterprises. They would also benefit from adding documentation and training on their site.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Appian for 13 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Appian is stable because it is on the cloud and it has options, actions, and latency.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable when compared with the support of the infrastructure. It has proven to be scalable as far as the authentication time has been procured.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support with Appian is good, however there is room for improvement.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. When compared with other solutions, Appian is much faster. It is easy to install. It is simple to transfer from the cloud, allowing you to get started immediately with the solution.
The process took us two days. If someone were implementing on-premises, it may take longer.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing of Appian is less expensive when compared to other BPMs in the market.
What other advice do I have?
Appian is a good solution if you are going to implement BPM or automation into your organization. It can work on a small scale and scale larger afterward.
I would rate Appian an eight and a half out of ten overall.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Implementer
Project Manager at Telus Digital
Low-code with good reliability and good workflows
Pros and Cons
- "The initial setup is easy."
- "There could be a scope of enhancement for capturing the variety of use cases."
What is our primary use case?
Our client, a telecom company, has use cases related to the telecom domain, and it's around workflow management kinds of use.
What is most valuable?
Their workflow, which can be easily built into a BPM, is one of the best features.
The development time for Appian is far less than high code languages, like .NET, Java, or some other languages.
We delivered the first application within 12 weeks, and that was a really big project. If we went with some high code tools, definitely it should have taken more than 15 or 18 sprints, and every estimate, in that case, would be a two-week sprint. It took only around 40% of the typical development time.
The initial setup is easy.
It's very stable.
You can scale the product well.
What needs improvement?
We have a partnership with Appian. We have worked with Appian to deal with issues. They have already incorporated many things into their platform. One of the things we have discussed, which I can highlight, is related to Excel manipulations. They have incorporated their Excel manipulations so it's far better than the earlier version. Earlier, we had to go with a plugin for even a simple Excel or spreadsheet calculation. Now, they have included all those things in their own out-of-the-box functionality.
It's definitely a tool and does not require high code language. There could be a scope of enhancement for capturing the variety of use cases. One thing, for example, is Excel manipulation, which they now provide in their out of box functionality, however, that can still be improved.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a stable solution. It's reliable. There are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have a good number of developers in our company. We have around 75 Appian developers, and overall, if we talk about the Appian's practice, it's around 100 people.
We are dealing with a couple of different Canadian clients.
It can scale quite well.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is helpful. Their SLA is very good. IIf your system, your cloud, is down, which normally does not happen, however, in some cases where, due to some heap memory or some other kind of things, they can assist. I just faced one or two instances in the last three years where their servers dropped due to the heap problem. They responded within their SLA, two hours, however, usually, they fix those types of things in 20 to 30 minutes.
How was the initial setup?
Usually, what we use, is Appian Cloud. That's provided (or set up) by Appian itself. If we talk about the Appian deployment from the lower environment to the upper environment, from the development perspective, and developer perspective, it's very quick. They have in-built DevOps, so it's a one-click deployment from the lower version to the upper version.
What about the implementation team?
Appian helps with the implementation setup.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I'm nearer to the technical side, so I don't deal with the pricing. In general, it's not an expensive product. We can say it's an affordable product. I can't say it was expensive. It depends on what the usage is, however. If you are using Appian where it's not required, definitely you will feel like it's expensive, however, if you are using Appian on a fuller scale, then definitely you will not feel like it's an expensive product.
What other advice do I have?
We would recommend this product to others.
From a low code BPM platform, I would rate the solution around nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. partner

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- What is your experience working with different BPM Software?
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