Appian

Founding and early growth: 1999–2013

Appian was founded in 1999 by Michael Beckley, Robert Kramer, Marc Wilson and Matthew Calkins, who serves as CEO.In 2001, the company developed Army Knowledge Online, regarded at the time as “the world's largest intranet."In 2005, the company expanded into financial services and other private markets. It became known for its low-code platform.In 2010, Appian Cloud was accredited with Federal Information Security Management Act low-level security by the U.S. Education Department. In 2013, it received FISMA Moderate Authorization and Accreditation from the General Services Administration .

Secondary investments and NASDAQ: 2014–2017

In 2014, the company received $37.5 million in secondary investments from New Enterprise Associates, which was paid out to shareholders. In 2015, transportation company Ryder began using the Appian apps instead of paper processing during the checkout process and internally for truck maintenance records.In 2016, Vontobel, a global investment firm, started using Appian's Low-Code Platform to improve its business processes.On May 25, 2017, Appian became a publicly-traded company, trading as APPN on the NASDAQ Global Exchange.

Process mining and artificial intelligence: 2018–present

In May 2019, Appian released Appian AI, enabling artificial intelligence capabilities on its platform. In March 2020, the company updated the platform's Artificial intelligence and robotic process automation capabilities. In 2021, the company was named a leader in Digital Process Automation software by Forrester.In 2022, Appian started highlighting the importance of low-code tools in improving environmental, social & corporate governance . The company stressed that embedding these tools within operational processes makes it easier for companies to integrate ESG data sources, adapt to regulations, and remain in control of auditability.In February, the company secured provisional authorization from the Defense Information Systems Agency to allow its low-code platform-as-a-service “to handle Impact Level 5 controlled unclassified information and national security systems”. This lets defense customers use Appian Government Cloud as well as the Appian Low-Code Platform.In May 2022, Appian was awarded $2.04 billion in damages against Pegasystems Inc. Pegasystems was found guilty of hiring a developer to spy on Appian, stealing trade secrets in an operation Pegasystems referred to as "Project Crush"

Acquisitions

On January 7, 2020, Appian announced acquisition of Novayre Solutions SL, developer of the Jidoka robotic process automation platform.In August 2021, Appian acquired the process mining company Lana Labs. The company's applications help companies discover the work patterns being used within their organization by looking through system logs for common actions and sequences.