The Challenge of International Trade

The Research

“According to studies completed by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, the average international transaction involves 27-30 different parties, 40 documents, 200 data elements (30 of which are repeated at least 30 times) and the re-keying of 60-70% of all data at least once. Obtaining the necessary permits for import and export can take weeks in some cases.”

Export Supply Chain Documents

Most of the export documentation is currently paper-based which results in significant impediments to the efficiency of the overall export process.

There is a high volume of repeated, manual processing of documents resulting in high error rates.

Export Supply Chain Partners

The compliance requirements of both the export and import countries involving differing terminology, documents and procedures makes the process time consuming, complex and prone to errors.

There are often long lead times on documentation and physical shipments are impeded by slow and inaccurate data transfer.

Current Impediments

Consignment data is faxed and re-keyed at many points along the supply chain
There is a high volume of repeated, manual processing
There is a high error rate in transport documentation
There is a low first-time Letter of Credit matching with charges and cash flow implications
Courier costs are high – particularly for regional exporters
There are often long lead times on documentation and physical shipments are impeded by slow and inaccurate data transfer.

It is clear that the export community needs a system to streamline the export logistics, documentation and compliance process which reduces this complexity.

The Challenge