Company: APPN
Filing Date: 2025-02-19
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001441683-25-000017
Chunk: 20

Company: APPIAN CORP
Filing Date: 2025-02-19
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 20
---
 length of our sales cycle, from initial evaluation to delivery of and payment for our software, varies substantially from customer to customer, and it is difficult to predict if or when we will make a sale to a potential customer. We may spend substantial time, effort, and money on our sales and marketing efforts without any assurance our efforts will result in revenue. As a result of these factors, we may face greater costs, longer sales cycles, and less predictability in the future. In the past, certain individual sales have occurred in periods later than we expected or have not occurred at all. The loss or delay of one or more large transactions in a quarter could impact our operating results for that quarter and any future quarters in which such revenue otherwise would have been recognized because a substantial portion of our expenses are relatively fixed in the short-term. As a result of these factors, it is difficult for us to forecast our revenue accurately in any quarter, and our quarterly results may fluctuate substantially. 

Market adoption of process automation platforms to drive process automation may not grow as we expect, which may harm our business and prospects.

We believe our future success will depend in large part on growth in the demand for process automation platforms to drive software-enabled process automation. It is difficult to predict customer demand for our platform, renewal rates, the rate at which existing customers expand their subscriptions, the size and growth rate of the market for our platform, the entry of competitive products, or the success of existing competitive products. Any expansion in our addressable market depends on a number of factors, including businesses continuing to desire to differentiate themselves through software-enabled process automation, increasing their reliance on process automation solutions, changes in the competitive landscape, technological changes, including due to advancements in AI, budgetary constraints of our customers, and changes in economic conditions. If our platform does not achieve widespread adoption or there is a reduction in demand for process automation solutions caused by these factors, it could result in reduced customer purchases, reduced renewal rates, and decreased revenue, any of which will adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.

14

We currently face significant competition.

The markets for process automation platforms, business process management, case management software, and custom software are highly competitive, rapidly evolving, and have relatively low barriers to entry. The principal competitive factors in our market include the following: platform features, reliability, performance, and effectiveness; ease of use and speed; data fabric; utilization of AI; platform extensibility and