-- Appian Automation Maturity Index Launches with Research into Defining 
Automation Excellence

Appian (NASDAQ: APPN) today announces the launch of the Appian Automation 
Maturity Index( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3158813-1&h=1285854000&u=https%3A%2F%2Fautomationmaturity.appian.com%2Fhome%3Futm_source%3Dreferral%26utm_medium%3Dpress-release%26utm_campaign%3Dfs-2021%26utm_term%3Dfs-benchmarkingtool&a=Appian+Automation+Maturity+Index 
), an interactive online benchmarking tool designed to offer powerful peer 
insights against a survey of 500 global C-level executives, and help financial 
services firms assess their progress towards automation excellence.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1507477/FS_Benchmarking_Image.jpg  
Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1488235/Appian_Logo.jpg  

Those initial survey results have helped to define 10 distinct dimensions of 
automation excellence. By taking the interactive online benchmarking tool, 
financial services firms can gauge their progress against each dimension, as 
well as making comparisons by country, sub-industry, and organization size.

Together, the benchmarking tool and accompanying research aim to answer the 
critical questions: "What does mature automation mean for a modern financial 
services company? What defines the companies that have gained significant 
business benefits from automation, and those that have not?"

Conducted in partnership with Longitude, a Financial Times company, the first 
wave of study results reveals:

  -- Financial institutions can be categorized into "Leaders" (respondents who
     report using innovative or sophisticated automation), "Laggards" (who say
     most of their automation fails to add value), and the "Mainstream" (who
     fall somewhere in between, making up 65% of the sample). 
  -- 98% of Leaders in banking automation report significant cost savings from
     their automation investments, compared to just 7% of Laggards. 
  -- 98% of Leaders have gained a "significant competitive edge" from their
     automation efforts, compared to only 6% of Laggards. 
  -- While the majority of Leaders (70%) have scaled up their use of robotic
     process automation (RPA), many of the Mainstream respondents (44%) are
     stuck in the pilot phase of implementation. 
  -- Leaders have an enterprise-wide automation strategy and center of
     excellence (at least 96%), while Laggards struggle to prioritize
     automation projects (81%). 
  -- There is no single route to automation excellence. Instead, leading firms
     demonstrate an ability to seamlessly integrate people, AI, RPA, workflows,
     databases and systems. Orchestration across a unified workflow lies behind
     most of the benefits to customers and employees seen in the survey,
     alongside supporting risk management, compliance, change management, and
     business strategy.

Mike Heffner, Vice President - Solutions and Industry Go To Market at Appian, 
notes: "There's a strong correlation in the research data between organization 
size and automation maturity. The world's largest financial services are, 
understandably, leading the shift towards automation, and the gains they make 
can help inform the whole industry. But size isn't the whole story. We're 
seeing a huge gap between Leaders and Laggards, as well as a significant 
majority who fall into the Mainstream across industry sub-categories." 

Part one of the research findings, "The Best Versus the Rest"( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3158813-1&h=1423152986&u=https%3A%2F%2Fautomationmaturity.appian.com%2Fhome%3Futm_source%3Dreferral%26utm_medium%3Dpress-release%26utm_campaign%3Dfs-2021%26utm_term%3Dfs-benchmarkingtool&a=The+Best+Versus+the+Rest 
), is available now. The next two chapters of the research findings, exploring 
the impact of automation on employees and customers, and what the future holds 
for automation Leaders, will be published later this month.

Among the first 500 C-level respondents were five who provided in-depth insight 
into their automation experiences. Commenting as a Leader using low-code 
automation for speed, Giovanni Gallucci, Head of Process Automation at ICCREA 
Cooperative Banking Group said: "We generated what I call a 'wow effect' — the 
business was amazed that we could release a change within a week. They could 
not believe it, because they were used to a different way. The time to market 
we can now achieve has been truly disruptive internally and created great 
enthusiasm."

"The automation of customer journeys can help deliver the benefits customers 
are looking for, such as mobile services, instant credit decisions, and quicker 
delivery of services," adds Stuart Duncan, Partner at NextWave Consulting and 
former Managing Director at Barclays.

Heffner concludes: "Understanding Leaders' automation strategies and 
investments shines a light for the rest of the industry on how to use 
automation to improve the customer and employee experience, drive revenue and 
cost savings, and react to regulatory and market changes at speed. I'm excited 
to launch this first wave of results, and to invite others in the market to see 
how they compare through the benchmarking tool."

Read part one of the research report( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3158813-1&h=624684088&u=https%3A%2F%2Fautomationmaturity.appian.com%2Fhome%3Futm_source%3Dreferral%26utm_medium%3Dpress-release%26utm_campaign%3Dfs-2021%26utm_term%3Dfs-benchmarkingtool&a=research+report 
) and use the interactive automation maturity benchmarking tool( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3158813-1&h=2414453502&u=https%3A%2F%2Fautomationmaturity.appian.com%2Fbenchmarkingtool%3Futm_source%3Dreferral%26utm_medium%3Dpress-release%26utm_campaign%3Dfs-2021%26utm_term%3Dfs-benchmarkingtool&a=benchmarking+tool

 ) to see how your organization compares.

Survey methodology

Longitude, in partnership with Appian, interviewed 500 senior banking and asset 
management professionals from around the world about the drivers, challenges, 
and opportunities on the path to automation maturity.

Respondents represented four sub-industries (retail, commercial and investment 
banks and asset managers), three levels of seniority, and a wide range of 
organization sizes. Both technology- and business-focused executives were 
included, covering management, strategy, operations, BPM, finance, IT, data 
science, sales, risk, legal, regulatory, and specialist automation roles. 
Executives contributed from the UK, US, France, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, 
Spain, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

About Appian

Appian helps organizations build apps and workflows rapidly, with a low-code 
automation platform. Combining people, technologies, and data in a single 
workflow, Appian can help companies maximize their resources and improve 
business results.  Many of the world's largest organizations use Appian 
applications to improve customer experience, achieve operational excellence, 
and simplify global risk management and compliance. For more information, visit 
www.appian.com



SOURCE: Appian



CONTACT: Ben Farrell, VP Corporate Communications, ben.farrell@appian.com