As seen in the classified ad section of a recent industry publication:
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Vibrant, fast-growing financial shared-services center for a multi-billion dollar company seeks Business Process Management Software (BPM) solution to track and manage exceptions to common accounting operations processes such as month-end close, deductions management in accounts receivables, and mismatches in accounts payable. Feeling jilted by our ERP product which offers limited help. Friends arranged blind dates with "bolt-on" products that all sounded great on paper, but had insufficient flexibility for our needs (which usually became clear even before our entrees were served). All other past relationships in this area have gone sour. Eager to find a "life partner" and ready for full commitment.
Important things to know about us:
Turn-offs:
- Reliance on spreadsheets for exception tracking and e-mail for collaborative communications
- Inability to understand where all exception process work stands at any moment
- Not having information required to easily analyze root causes of exception problems
- Reliance on IT team to make any modifications to specially designed systems
Turn-ons:
- Easy integration to our ERP system to pre-populate data fields and write results back
- Complete transparency into status of all operating processes, reported any way we want
- Mobile BPM interface so "road warriors" won't hold up open item resolution
- Built-in social business collaboration tied to process events to highlight process break-downs and speed root cause analysis
- Ability to move between cloud and on-premise deployments without any changes
If you honestly believe you're different and could be our "soul mate," then kindly fill out the attached RFP document. Make us happy and we'll be yours for life. We promise to present at your user conference every year and take all calls from industry analysts looking to profile outstanding success.
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No, this isn't a real ad, but I feel like it could be. The idea for this blog post came to me after reading several new RFI/RFP documents from very successful companies who have recognized the power of Business Process Management Software to solve their exception management process challenges. I heard the same sentiments last week while presenting some of Appian's Solutions to the CFO and CIO of a Fortune 500 company and their direct reports. All of these organizations were relying on spreadsheets and e-mail to manage exception processes. Some had tried third-party solutions only to find the vendor's roadmap was shaped by the needs of an average customer, limiting their flexibility and making the solution hardly better than spreadsheets and e-mail.
Appian's Business Process Management software is an outstanding solution to a wide range of process management challenges, including financial operations exception processes. We easily fill in the "white spaces" between other applications and cover the gaps left by ERP systems not designed to easily support collaboration and exception tracking. Our social, mobile, and cloud offerings are unique and give you unrivaled flexibility, participation, and insights from process collaboration.
If you're searching for a committed BPM software partner, look no further than Appian.
Evan McDonnell
Vice President of Solutions
Evan McDonnell
