Company: APPN
Filing Date: 2025-02-19
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001441683-25-000017
Chunk: 86

Company: APPIAN CORP
Filing Date: 2025-02-19
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 7
Chunk 86
---
 professional services revenue includes all direct and indirect costs to deliver our professional services and training, including employee compensation for our global professional services and training personnel, third-party contractor costs, allocated overhead costs, and the costs of billable expenses such as travel and lodging. The unpredictability of the timing of providing services related to significant professional services agreements sold on a standalone basis may cause significant fluctuations in our cost of professional services which, in turn, may impact our financial results.

Gross Profit and Gross Margin

Gross profit and gross margin (defined as gross profit as a percentage of total revenue), have been, and will continue to be, affected by various factors, including the mix of cloud subscriptions and on-premises term license subscriptions, the mix of total subscriptions revenue and professional services revenue, subscription pricing, the costs associated with third-party hosting providers, and the extent to which we expand or reduce our professional services to support future changes in our growth. Our gross margin may fluctuate from period to period based on the preceding factors.

Subscriptions Gross Margin 

Subscriptions gross margin is primarily affected by the growth in our subscriptions revenue as compared to the growth in, and timing of, costs to support such revenue. We expect to continue to invest in customer support and cloud operations to support growth in our business, and the timing of those investments is expected to cause subscriptions gross margin to fluctuate on a quarterly basis.

49

Professional Services Gross Margin

Professional services gross margin is affected by the growth in our professional services revenue as compared to the growth in, and timing of, the costs of our Customer Success organization as well as by consultant utilization rates. Professional services gross margin is also impacted by the amount of services performed by subcontractors and partners as opposed to internal resources. In 2025, we expect professional services gross margin to be consistent with 2024; however, the margin remains subject to fluctuation based on the factors discussed above. 

Operating Expenses

Operating expenses consist of sales and marketing, research and development, and general and administrative expenses. Personnel-related costs such as salaries, bonuses, commissions, payroll tax payments, severance costs, and stock-based compensation expense are the most significant components of each of these expense categories. Other components of each category include professional fees for third-party services such as legal, software development resources, contractors, and cloud computing services. In addition, operating expenses include allocated overhead costs, which are primarily comprised of facility costs such as rent, employee medical benefits, employee relations expense, and certain information technology costs.

In general, our operating