Best practices offered for global trade management

Computerworld - While globalization creates opportunities, it also adds complexity and risk to supply chain management -- especially with regard to trade compliance and security, according to Adrian Gonzalez, a transportation analyst at ARC Advisory Group in Dedham, Mass.
In order to be competitive in the global trade arena, companies must automate processes and master ever-changing security regulations, Gonzalez said during a seminar yesterday on global trade management sponsored by San Carlos, Calif.-based Open Harbor Inc., a global trade management services provider.
"Trade security is the new wild card, adding a layer of complexity to global trade processes," Gonzalez said. "Success depends on people, process and technology."
Gonzalez said logistics, which incorporates global trade management, is now becoming a key enabler of corporate strategies. He also said the global trade "landscape" is constantly changing, forcing companies to keep informed of recent trends and include them in their business strategies if they want to be successful.
"Many companies equate global trade with paperwork and compliance with customs regulations, but in reality, the value of global trade information extends across the enterprise and across all business functions, including product development, network design and vendor selection," Gonzalez said. "You shortchange yourself as a company if you fail to incorporate global trade information across the enterprise."
Gonzalez said a company should view investing in trade security not merely as a way to prevent terrorism but also as an opportunity to simplify and streamline its supply chain processes. "Technology is a key component," he said.
And whether a company chooses to deploy the necessary technology itself or outsource the work to a service provider depends on that company's IT infrastructure and its support capability as well as the number and location of its facilities and the availability of personnel to service those facilities, according to Gonzalez.
"But taking a centralized approach to global trade management overcomes the limitations of point deployments for companies with many locations around the world -- and for those companies, a hosted solution may be the best option," he said.
Gonzalez said when evaluating service providers, companies need to ensure that they have access to timely, complete and accurate trade content for both the import and export processes. "A solution must also be scalable, modular [and] automate processes, as well as provide exception management capabilities," he said.
Because of the environment today, there's zero tolerance for companies that don't have automated and well-grounded global trade operations, he said.