Appian enhances process automation, IBM AI transforms US Open, Accenture acquires Logic – PEX Vendor News

PEX Network’s weekly bulletin rounds up the latest industry vendor news including product releases/updates, mergers and acquisitions, partnerships and leadership changes.

This week includes:

• Appian enhances AI-driven data and process automation
• Accenture completes acquisition of Logic
• Nintex, Celonis, GBTEC, Kognitos leaders recognized in OPEX thought leader list
• ABBYY previews intelligent automation month
• IBM serves up new generative AI features at 2024 US Open
• NETSCOUT fuels AI processes with actionable data to enhance service performance

Appian enhances AI-driven data and process automation

Process automation vendor Appian announced the latest version of the Appian Platform with the expansion of several artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities designed to enhance data and process automation for enterprises. Image left: Appian 24.3

The release delivers support for more enterprise AI use cases with extended compliance, offering a strong framework to help organizations prepare for current and forthcoming AI regulations, according to a press release.

“Appian’s Copilot updates empower users to get faster answers from their enterprise data and documents, with plain language and fewer steps,” the vendor stated. “AI Copilot and AI Skills also now meet HITRUST certification requirements. HITRUST certification is a comprehensive security framework that provides a standardized and rigorous approach to managing risk and protecting sensitive information, including compliance with HIPAA.”

Additional updates include:

• Process HQ with AI-suggested starting points that accelerate process investigations by offering AI-suggested views with KPIs, process details and filters.
• Prompt Builder AI skill now available natively in additional new Appian Cloud locations including Australia, Canada, France, the UK and Ireland, India and Brazil for additional support in Asia Pacific, North America, Europe and South America.
• Enhancements to the Appian Platform’s data fabric, low-code and automation capabilities, streamlining workflows by integrating people, technology and data.
• Enterprise Copilot allows users to easily locate information across curated sets of documents by simply asking the AI, even without knowing the specific document set.

Accenture completes acquisition of Logic

Accenture completed the acquisition of Logic, a services firm that works with retailers to boost revenue and increase agility through technology. The deal will enhance Accenture’s ability to drive technology transformations for retail clients globally through integration of Logic’s capabilities in digital, analytics and cloud, according to a press release. The acquisition will add essential skills in core technologies and platforms, as well as AI and generative AI, to drive innovation, it added. “This strategic move underscores Accenture’s commitment to helping retailers transform their organizations with technology so that they can better navigate the evolving retail landscape with confidence,” Accenture stated.

“Business disruption is intensifying and requires retailers to embrace a strategy of continuous reinvention to deliver value across every part of the business with digital technology at the core,” commented Jill Standish, global lead of Accenture’s retail industry practice.

Nintex, Celonis, GBTEC, Kognitos leaders recognized in OPEX thought leader list

Representatives from vendors Nintex, Celonis, GBTEC and Kognitos were recognized in PEX Network’s 25 operational excellence thought leaders to follow in 2024 list.

This list acknowledges thought and business leaders for their achievements in key areas including advanced technologies, digital transformation, sustainability, research and change management. It features people from all over the world in academia, manufacturing, technology and science, among other fields.

The vendor-based inclusions are:

• Thomas Kohlenbach, senior product specialist at Nintex.
• Caspar Jans, director, process management at Celonis.
• Marc Stromberg, co-founder, sales and key account management at GBTEC.
• Binny Gill, founder and CEO at Kognitos.

ABBYY previews intelligent automation month

Intelligent automation (IA) provider ABBYY announced the return of the Intelligent Automation Month, featuring a range of content to educate leaders on the benefits of AI-powered automation. Running throughout September, the initiative will explore several key components of IA such as purpose-built AI, intelligent document processing (IDP) and process intelligence. Topics include balancing AI utility and harms amid evolving regulations, the growth of “e-invoicing” and how process mining and task mining help to leverage AI and maximize operational efficiency.

“Intelligent Automation Month is an important industry initiative that puts a spotlight on what businesses can achieve with purpose-built AI,” said Bruce Orcutt, CMO at ABBYY. “Attendees will feel encouraged by the panel of experts featured during September and have actionable insights for how to plan, deploy and measure the ROI of their AI investments for their organizations.”

IBM serves up new generative AI features at 2024 US Open

IBM and the United States Tennis Association (USTA) announced several new generative AI features coming to the US Open digital platforms ahead of this year’s tournament, which starts on August 26. These new and enhanced capabilities aim to deliver a more informative and engaging experience for millions of tennis fans around the world, according to a press release.

Image left: Preview of new 2024 ibm Match Report summaries.

The new features include:

• AI-generated match report summaries for every men’s and women’s singles match within minutes of conclusion.
• An enhanced version of IBM’s AI commentary providing automated English-language audio and subtitles for match summary highlight videos.
• Fan access to a fully redesigned IBM SlamTracker experience offering detailed pre-, live and post-match insights.

Furthermore, IBM and the USTA Foundation, the USTA’s philanthropic arm, announced a collaboration to offer free career readiness training through IBM SkillsBuild, aligning with the USTA Foundation's mission to help under-resourced youth become more engaged in school and learning and IBM’s goal of skilling 30 million people by 2030.

“One of the key goals of the US Open Digital Platforms is to provide fans worldwide with comprehensive coverage of all the action taking place during the three weeks of the tournament,” commented Brian Ryerson, senior director of digital strategy at the USTA. AI match reports enable teams to efficiently deliver concise, factual match previews and reports for over 150 matches to fans across our platforms, he added. “The efficiency of providing this content at scale allows our editorial teams to focus on other storylines and interviews ensuring we can provide the most comprehensive coverage possible.”

NETSCOUT fuels AI processes with actionable data to enhance service performance

Performance management and cyber security vendor NETSCOUT released a new solution to deliver the valued data needed to secure better outcomes from AI and AI for IT (AIOps). NETSCOUT is working across its partner ecosystem including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, ServiceNow and Splunk to integrate high-quality, AI-ready data and deliver insights that drive better business outcomes and elevate user effectiveness, according to a press release.

NETSCOUT introduced Omnis™ AI Insights – built to deliver precise and actionable network telemetry data that feeds customer AI initiatives to enable critical outcomes without requiring data transformations and adaptation. These include:

• Identifying and correlating observability trends.
• Streamlining and automating data analysis.
• Uncovering historical operational patterns.

“As organizations automate their IT environments to scale operations, they need enterprise-grade intelligence to improve decision-making and optimize the user experience,” said Stephen Elliot, group VP of I&O, cloud operations and DevOps at IDC. “Technology leaders must consider the value of service reliability and resiliency they can receive by filtering the appropriate metadata, session data and IP intelligence necessary for critical AIOps and security use cases.”

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