No corporate activity is more critical to importers and exporters than trade compliance. The business case for global trade management (GTM) technology is convincing: tangible ROI, enhanced revenue, more efficient internal processes, unprecedented supply chain visibility and more. Yet, many C-level executives seem content to keep compliance relegated to the world of spreadsheets. It's time for CEOs, CFOs, and CIOs to reap the benefits of GTM technology in their importing and exporting operations.

Global trade is no longer an option for many firms, but an integral element of their business plans. On the production side, sourcing is critical to economical manufacturing decisions, and comparative analysis often leads to judgments to go abroad. Bringing products stateside for additional production or distribution then becomes a standard business requirement. Conversely, order fulfillment frequently involves exporting products, as today's customers span the globe.

Since 9/11, governments everywhere have heightened trade restrictions. Compliance presents a dilemma: Firms must identify which governmental units have jurisdiction and what requirements they impose individually and collectively on a country-by-country basis. A greater challenge arises from the dynamic nature of the process. Requirements change often.

Companies appreciate both the difficulty of being compliant and the consequences of noncompliance: delayed speed to market, fines and penalties, focused assessments, and more. Corporate America has responded by hiring expert compliance professionals and relying on training seminars and conferences to help them keep their edge. While laudable, it is only a partial solution. Why? Because after the training ends, most return to a workplace reliant on a totally inadequate compliance tool: the spreadsheet.

Spreadsheets are excellent for tasks involving calculations, such as financial forecasting and budgeting. However, they were never designed to deliver the advanced data management capabilities trade compliance demands. To compensate, spreadsheet number, size, and complexity grow, making them more difficult to search, change save, and use with each expansion. The mere act of sorting information can corrupt all the data.

Spreadsheets are not optimal when several people must access them simultaneously. Further, degradation and security issues predominate. Formats can break down, data insertion can affect formulas and break links, and there is no way to limit access to information. Spreadsheets lack built-in logic checks, meaning errors can go undetected. Yet, a greater concern is the time and effort it takes to maintain spreadsheets and their content. In a dynamic environment where the only constant is change, it can be a full-time job.

Hiring experts and giving them inadequate tools defies logic. There is no rationale to stick with spreadsheets when GTM technology is affordable, reliable, and easy to implement.

Distinct Advantages in Import Processes

Organizations think nothing of implementing ERP, CAD, and WMS applications but hesitate when it comes to GTM, asking "Do we really need it?" Here are some basic ways where GTM software can assist import compliance functions.

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