Appian has announced that it has assisted Australian Law firm MinterEllison with automating its business process management system on the Appian Low-Code Platform.

As a result of the technology implementation, forecasts have predicted that the new system will save the firm 42,000 billable hours in 2023. The development will assist MinterEllison's 3,000+ partners and staff that service government, private and public clients.

MinterEllison developed a Best Practice Matter Management system using Appian, which was a first for an Australian law firm. By integrating multiple legacy platforms into a single platform with Appian, the company has increased workflow efficiency and decreased operational risk, as the system ensures all matters are handled within their established service-level agreements (SLAs).

MinterEllison chief digital officer Gary Adler says the company's legacy technology was becoming outdated and that this allowed the organisation to implement a better new solution for staff and customer outcomes.

"Our old business process management system was ten years old and had reached end-of-life," he says.

"We wanted to use that as an opportunity to automate in a way that improved the efficiency of our lawyers and legal teams, lowered risk, and offered enhanced client services."

He says migrating teams away from a long-trusted system was challenging as many were used to its working processes, but Appian allowed customisation options which helped create a smooth transition.

"The biggest challenge we faced in automating the system was migrating our teams away from a system they were highly familiar with.

"Using Appian, we've been able to create custom applications that are straightforward, with a similar look and feel to what our lawyers are used to, which has made the transition as seamless as possible."

Adler says the platform, which was named 'Beacon', produced effective results and significantly helped the company with workflow.

"Appian offered MinterEllison the flexibility to consolidate all the varied activities and areas of the business onto one platform, which we named 'Beacon.' After just one year, the new system had managed 8,000 legal matters, and in the 2023 financial year, MinterEllison expects it to manage 20,000 matters," he says.

"We have measured that Appian saves us between 10 and 30% per matter, equalling up to 42,000 lawyer billable hours in the coming financial year."

Appian area VP APAC Luke Thomas says the company is pleased it was able to provide a solution that promoted positive customer and staff outcomes.

"MinterEllison's new system needed to be customer-centric and hasten smart decision making, to increase stakeholder satisfaction and deliver quality service," he says.

"We're pleased to say that since adopting the Appian Low-Code Platform, MinterEllison has made significant improvements for the business and its employees, as well as for its clients."

Appian is also holding APJ event in Sydney later this year.

Hear from MinterEllison, Genworth Australia and Appian CEO Matt Calkins on how low-code is improving business processes for major organisations in Australia and around the world. For more information, visit Appian APJ 2022.