Kiran Jorwekar - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Team Lead at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 10
Stable, quick to deploy, and requires minimal coding
Pros and Cons
  • "What I found most valuable in Appian is that it lets you drill down on multiple things through the structure of the reporting and UI side. It's also low-code, yet it results in quick deliverables."
  • "Appian has a few areas for improvement, which my organization raised with the Appian team. One is the Excel output which is limited to fifty columns when it should be up to two hundred or three hundred columns."

What is our primary use case?

My organization only has a few use cases for Appian, but one of the use cases I'm working with is for a corporate real estate project.

How has it helped my organization?

Appian has benefited my organization because of its low-code feature, so my team only has to do minimal coding, resulting in quick deliverables.

What is most valuable?

What I found most valuable in Appian is its latest feature, which lets you drill down on multiple things through the structure of the reporting and UI side of the solution.

What needs improvement?

Appian has a few areas for improvement, which my organization raised with the Appian team. One is the Excel output which is limited to fifty columns when it should be up to two hundred or three hundred columns. Fixing this limitation will make the solution better.

What I want to see in the next release of Appian is on the interface side, where the current square-shaped buttons should be round. Having available buttons for the different functions of Appian will also help enrich the UI.

Buyer's Guide
Appian
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Appian. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
768,578 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

I'd been using Appian for two years now.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Appian is a stable solution, so I'm giving it a nine out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I experienced a few issues in Appian scalability, particularly in the data or records area, so it's an eight out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

I don't personally have experience contacting Appian technical support, but my peer used to get in touch with Appian, and from what I heard, the support team had been helpful.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

My organization only used Appian.

How was the initial setup?

My experience with the initial setup for Appian is nine out of ten.

Appian was quick to deploy. It took a very short time because my organization has the SaaS version.

What about the implementation team?

An in-house team deployed Appian in my organization.

What was our ROI?

There's ROI from Appian, but I cannot give data about it.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

A different team handles the pricing side of Appian.

What other advice do I have?

I'm using Appian right now.

My organization uses the 22.3 and 22.4 versions of Appian in production and the sandbox environment.

In the organization, Appian is deployed on a SaaS environment.

Deploying the solution requires two people.

Appian is a good solution, so I'm giving it nine out of ten.

My organization is an Appian partner.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
GauravJain3 - PeerSpot reviewer
Export Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Real User
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?

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.

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.

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: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Appian
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Appian. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
768,578 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Imane Bousaad - PeerSpot reviewer
IA&RPA Engineer at Admiral
Real User
Reliable, innovative, and offers good documentation
Pros and Cons
  • "The setup is easy."
  • "It would be useful if they could create an academy or forum in the future to help active users answer questions they have about the solution."

What is our primary use case?

I've used it for analytics and automation. I use it for processes related to validation. It's for business process automation. It can be used for mail ticketing, validating products, invoicing, processing, order to cash, et cetera.

What is most valuable?

It helps with working with API projects. It helps me work with clients and helps with automation with UiPath. 

It's a popular solution with clients. 

The price is not that high. It's affordable.

The setup is easy.

It is stable.

The product is quite innovative. 

There is a lot of documentation available.

What needs improvement?

The solution could offer better features. We'd like to have more options for automation. We have more affordable UiPath automation features, which are lacking in Appian. It really needs to invest in automation more. 

It would be useful if they could create an academy or forum in the future to help active users answer questions they have about the solution.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using it for one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable and reliable. It is innovative. The customers I have been working with choose Appian based on its innovation and reliability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

There are a variety of customers using the solution. We're a consultant group and have customers across many sectors. It's hard to quantify how many people are using it. 

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is very helpful. I've also uncovered a lot of documentation that can help me. It would be ideal if they could create an Appian Academy or official forum to help people learn more about the solution and troubleshoot problems. 

How was the initial setup?

I did not have any issues with e Appian installation. 

The deployment of projects depends on the data I work with or the projects I deploy. A simple project will happen fast. A more complex project will take longer. Typically it takes a day or two. A more complex deployment may take a week.

I use orchestrators during the deployment. I simply need to develop a process in the studio first and then I need to activate the robot and connect it with the orchestrator. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I'm not sure about the licensing. It's not part of my direct scope. However, my understanding is the pricing is reasonable. 

What other advice do I have?

I am using the latest version of the solution. 

We have an on-premises deployment for right now. However, I'm open to trying the cloud deployment in the future. 

I provide the solution for my customers. I am an AI engineer. I provide a solution and find use cases for the customers. 

If people are interested in the solution, they should start by reading more about it and learning more about the offering. 

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
CTO Digital Division at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
Excellent technical support with low-code capabilities and business process management features
Pros and Cons
  • "The technical support is excellent."
  • "The UI of Appian is more internal. Recently, there has been an addition of an external user portal for the customer-facing stuff. It's still coming out."

What is our primary use case?

The use cases are for complex business-process oriented applications. This is the main use for large customers.

How has it helped my organization?

We're not using it ourselves. We're selling it and we are implementing services and projects for other customers. 

What is most valuable?

The low-code capabilities and, of course, the business process management features are the most valuable aspects of the solution. 

It has a very easy setup.

The technical support is excellent.

It's scalable.

The stability is good.

What needs improvement?

I cannot speak to any missing features. 

The UI of Appian is more internal. Recently, there has been an addition of an external user portal for the customer-facing stuff. It's still coming out. There will be more features for external users.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Appian for about a year and a half.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Appian is very, very stable. Thousands of organizations use it. It's got 99.99% uptime in AWS. It's very robust. I didn't encounter any problems with it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's scalable. It can scale horizontally and vertically. Some features like the portals can be implemented on Kubernetes, which means that they are scalable to implement.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is great. Every service request is answered within the hour. It's very, very exceptional.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I was an integrator for IBM BAW, Business Automation Workflow. And afterward, Pega, and then Appian. My experience with the other platforms was somehow not very good. With IBM, it's very complex. The product is very, very complex, and you need a lot of higher-skilled people to do a lot of stuff. Also, maintenance and management are very difficult. When you can go into Pega, the low-code stuff of Pega is a bit trickier to acquire. It is more complex to develop solutions with it. Also, the business part of Pega is less advanced and is more limited. You can't do everything you want there.

How was the initial setup?

The initial implementation is very straightforward and simple. It's not overly complex or difficult. It's a five out of five in terms of the ease of setup.

The implementation strategy is the Appian standard implementation strategy, as it is a SaaS.

The time it takes to set up varies. For small features, it can take up to two weeks, and larger ones can take months. Usually, it's a fifth or tenth of that time if a company is doing a standard setup. 

The amount of maintenance depends on what your strategy is for deployment. If you're going into transformation and you're going to migrate a lot of business processes in the organization, you need to do it in parallel so, you'll have to employ enough personnel to do it. For a simple solution, two, three, or four people will suffice.

What was our ROI?

In one case it has been known to reduce process time by about 85%.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It's a SaaS solution. The solution is moderately priced. I'd rate it a three out of five in terms of affordability.

Appian being a complete automation platform, the initial amount covers everything. You then have to pay for specific capabilities separately.

What other advice do I have?

We are using the latest version of the solution. 

I'm a business partner with Appian. I'm an integrator. 

If a potential new user is going to evaluate it, they should look at the whole picture, not at the specific features. All in all, Appian gives the best coverage of all the features needed for an automation platform. It comes bundled with RPA and VPN and low-code and process-mining discovery and document intelligence and portal for external users and the data capabilities, data visualization capabilities, which no other tool gives, gives them in one package. 

They should look for and interview users of Appian to understand the product as well. There are a lot of different ideas in the market. The reason I chose to go with the Appian is the reason that it best suits businesses that wants to jump to the next era to perform the digital transformation in the smoothest way, in the most complete way. This is the benefit of Appian.

I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
CIO at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 20
A scalable solution with a valuable Workflow Engine feature
Pros and Cons
  • "Even with an on-premise implementation, the scalability is still high, so it is easy to scale up."
  • "Sometimes, clients expect us to implement ERP using Appian, which is very complicated. In such cases, I don't believe that Appian is a good tool for that."

What is our primary use case?

I am working in a software house, and we are using Appian to build a custom-made application while trying to fulfill our client's requirements.

How has it helped my organization?

I don't think we currently have any applications for our internal processes, which include a set of Oracle APEX products or applications, especially custom-made applications, which is something we need for ourselves. However, we have many use cases for our clients.

What is most valuable?

Workflow Engine is a valuable tool. Besides the resource kit, I believe both tools are very, very convenient for our clients.

What needs improvement?

I don't think I have anything to comment on the areas that need improvement in the solution, but I can refer back to my technical team. As the solution architect, I don't have hands-on experience with both products.

If you ask me about my thoughts on what is missing in Appian or my opinion on what I would want the vendor to add in the future, I would say that the product is in a state of perfection. However, we can't really guess what AI and big data models might sell us in the near future.

For how long have I used the solution?

I am currently using Appian and Oracle APEX, and I will soon start to use Appian Version 23.1. Also, our company has a partnership with Appian.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I won't be complaining near the client. Stability-wise, everything is okay.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is definitely a scalable tool. I would rate its scalability not less than eight and a half out of ten.

Even with an on-premise implementation, the scalability is still high, so it is easy to scale up.

How are customer service and support?

I don't have any experience with it personally, but our team that practices on Appian uses the technical support very frequently, maybe on a daily basis or so.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have been using APEX in our organization for some time now, and I was checking the comparison between Oracle APEX and Appian on peerspot.com for an unbiased opinion. Presently, we are implementing both Oracle APEX and Appian almost equally for small to medium purposes. However, for enterprise needs, I think we will choose Appian.

How was the initial setup?

It depends on the functionality that we are using. For instance, having an LMS solution for our clients is a bit straightforward. Sometimes, clients expect us to implement ERP using Appian, which is very complicated. In such cases, I don't believe that Appian is a good tool for that.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

When it comes to pricing, it's definitely not affordable. However, it really depends on the requirements that you're seeking from the solution. If you're looking for an on-premises distribution, it can be a bit expensive. But this is usually the case with on-premises solutions. That's why we have a cloud solution available, which is more cost-effective.

Additionally, the cost is justified by the use cases, and Appian is a good solution overall.

In terms of hidden or extra costs for additional features beyond the standard license, I don't think we've had any exposure to such scenarios, except for the resource kit. From a technical standpoint, I'm not sure if it's paid for separately or included in the license cost. As you may be aware, we've partnered with Appian, so I believe we have an official case here.

What other advice do I have?

I suggest that those planning to use Appian take care of the practice lead because many resources claim to have solid and vertical knowledge of Appian. We are not sure why there is a risk of resources being unavailable during this trip. Additionally, we have a shortage of Appian resources, so finding a good practice lead could be a challenge. Overall, I rate this solution a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
Intelligent Automation Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
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: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
VP Business Development North America at Geko
Real User
Top 5
Open-source, simple to set up, and offers faster testing on multiple devices
Pros and Cons
  • "It's a stable product."
  • "We'd like improved functionality for testing new devices."

What is most valuable?

Using this solution allows us to have faster testing on multiple devices.

The solution is simple to set up.

It's a stable product.

The product is open-source.

What needs improvement?

The solution needs to have more features. If you compare it to, for example, Katalon, Katalon had more features. 

We'd like improved functionality for testing new devices. For example, the last Apple phone is always a pain. The CEO of the bank has it, however, he wants the application running there. The testing of the latest models needs to be possible.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for about a year. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's my understanding that the solution is stable. We haven't dealt with bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze.

How are customer service and support?

I've never directly dealt with technical support. I can't speak to how helpful or responsive. 

How was the initial setup?

We find the product simple and straightforward to set up. It's for a mobile application for bank solutions and mobile banking.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We are using the open-source version. We only invested in a couple of tests. However, we are using the open-source version which doesn't cost anything.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also compared the solution to Katalon, and Katalon had a few better features than Appium. I cannot name each specific feature, however, I know that Katalon had some features that made it even faster.

What other advice do I have?

We are customers and end-users. We don't have a partnership with Appian.

I'm not sure which version of the solution we're using at this time. 

I'd rate the product nine out of ten. We are quite happy with its capabilities. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Advanced App Engineering Sr Manager at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Used to automate processes that were previously done manually
Pros and Cons
  • "I find the BPM the most valuable feature."
  • "Appian could include other applications that we could reuse for other customers, CRM for example."

What is our primary use case?

We use Appian to automate processes that we are currently doing manually. We are working on an agile project. We have 500 people using this solution, most of which are operational.

This particular project started with four cases, or four processes. Next year we plan on doubling this and implementing eight more cases.

How has it helped my organization?

Prior to Appian, when we were handling a particular process manually, it took 40 days to resolve. After Appian was implemented, it took only seven days. The improvement in time is amazing.

What is most valuable?

I find the BPM the most valuable feature. It is easy to develop as it is a local solution. Appian is quick to understand and develop.

What needs improvement?

Appian could include other applications that we could reuse for other customers, CRM for example. This would make implementation quicker.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Appian for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We had some concerns with the stability of Appian when we had a lot of cases. During normal operation it is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability depends on how much you want to embrace the capacity of Appian. If you have a lot of cases, 150,000 for example, the stability will not be good because the memory required is so heavy that the RAM that you need is backed in. If you pass a certain number of cases, and the processes are complex, the situation is not suitable for Appian.

How are customer service and support?

I have had no concerns with customer service. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Appian was straightforward. We have an architect on our team who did the deployment. The deployment depends on the environment. For us, configuration took a day and to deploy no more than an hour.

We use one person, the architect, to maintain the program.

What was our ROI?

The ROI has been good. Profits increased because of this solution, this is why we are going to implement eight more cases next year.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The cost can be improved, however it is not too high for the customers here in Spain.

What other advice do I have?

My advice before starting to implement this solution you need to consider what you want to do in Appian because everything is not possible. Sometimes when you think BPM process, you think that the interface application is the same, but it's not.

I would rate Appian an 8 out of 10.

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?

Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Appian Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Appian Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.