Latest Version of the Appian Platform Transforms Enterprise Data and Process Automation with AI-Driven Innovations

London — August 19, 2024 — Appian (Nasdaq: APPN) has released version 24.3 of the Appian Platform, its software for orchestrating enterprise data and automating business processes. The update adds AI assistance throughout the product and widens compliance coverage, which the company says will help customers get ready for AI regulations already in force and those still to come.

Copilot moves deeper into enterprise data

The main theme of the release is conversational access to company information. Appian has updated its Copilot tools so users can ask questions in plain language and get answers from enterprise data and documents with fewer steps. Several new features make up the update:

• AI Copilot for data fabric, available in preview, brings insights from across an organization’s data into a single chat interface and cites the source data so answers can be checked.
• Enterprise Copilot helps users find information in curated document collections even when they do not know which collection holds the answer.
• AI Copilot in Case Management Studio summarizes case comments and documents, and walks users through creating data fields when building data models.
• AI Copilot for developers automatically generates test cases for expression rules, aiming to make testing faster and broader.

Sanat Joshi, Appian’s executive vice president of product and solutions, said the data fabric Copilot lets people explore and understand enterprise data in natural language, and can now answer questions about the whole data catalog.

Taken together, the features follow a clear pattern. Instead of adding one general-purpose chatbot, Appian is placing assistants at specific points in the platform: where analysts query data, where case workers review files, and where developers test their logic. Each assistant is limited to the information and tasks relevant to that role. The aim is to make answers easier to trust and to keep sensitive data within the governance rules customers have already set.

Process HQ and wider availability

Process HQ, Appian’s process intelligence tool, now offers AI-suggested starting points. These are ready-made views with key performance indicators, process details and filters, designed to shorten the time analysts spend setting up an investigation into how a workflow is running.

The Prompt Builder AI skill, which lets teams build generative AI steps into their applications, now runs natively in more Appian Cloud regions. These include Australia, Canada, France, the UK and Ireland, India and Brazil. Running the service locally matters to customers with data residency rules. The release also includes general improvements to Appian’s data fabric, low-code design and automation features.

Compliance and a public-sector example

On governance, Appian said its AI Copilot and AI Skills now meet HITRUST certification requirements. HITRUST is a security and risk management framework widely used in healthcare to protect sensitive data, including for compliance with the US HIPAA law. This could make the AI features easier to approve for organizations that handle protected health information.

The company pointed to the Texas Department of Public Safety as an example of the platform in use. Michael Parks, the agency’s director of procurement and contract services, described a generative AI chatbot built on Appian that gives procurement staff fast, secure access to state contracting regulations and guidance. The chatbot cites the source of each answer, so officials can check it before acting.

Why it matters

The 24.3 release reflects a wider shift in enterprise software: AI assistants are being built into existing workflow systems rather than offered as separate chat tools. By linking Copilot answers to a governed data layer and showing citations, Appian is targeting a major barrier to corporate AI adoption, which is trust in where an answer came from.

The focus on HITRUST and regional hosting also reflects the regulatory backdrop. With the European Union’s AI Act now in force and sector rules tightening elsewhere, vendors selling to regulated industries and governments are competing on compliance as much as on features. For process automation providers, auditable AI that works on an organization’s own data may become a basic requirement.