In this interview from Appian World 2026, Bob LeBaron, head of the Workflow Center of Excellence at Neuberger Berman, joins theCUBE's Dave Vellante to discuss how AI-powered process automation is reshaping private markets operations. LeBaron explains how Neuberger Berman uses Appian for deal closing and investor onboarding across its private equity and private debt businesses, giving fund administrators and outside counsel real-time visibility into deal and fund status. He details how converging pressures — an influx of retail and high-net-worth investors, accelerating reporting cycles and more flexible fund structures — are driving demand for operational scale that traditional headcount models cannot support alone. The conversation explores how LeBaron sees AI expanding the carrying capacity of each employee — potentially allowing the same team to support double or triple the firm's current assets under management. He describes document extraction as one of the most immediate opportunities, noting that AI can standardize data across dozens of outside counsel firms that each use slightly different document formats, unlocking structured insight from data that previously sat inert. The discussion also tackles the tension between agentic and deterministic approaches: LeBaron recounts how tasks that initially seemed ideal for AI agents — such as reviewing 200-page subscription documents — often prove more tractable as well-defined deterministic processes once properly analyzed. Looking ahead, he envisions Appian evolving from a standalone front-end application into a universal workflow orchestration engine, integrating seamlessly with any AI ecosystem to orchestrate CRM tools, document ingestion and AI agents across the full enterprise stack.