Tag Archive for Trade Compliance Solutions

New Podcast: Research Tools for Getting Started in Trade Compliance

September 28, 2011 Caroline Export Compliance, Global Trade Management, Global Trade Management Software, Harmonized Systems, Import Compliance, Podcast, Product Classification, Trade Compliance, Trade Compliance Software, Trade Compliance Solutions, World Customs Organization No comments

The World Customs Organization (WCO) will soon make significant changes to the Harmonized System (HS).  This could have a major impact on your company’s global trade process and international supply chain.  Find out how you can tackle these issues by listening to Management Dynamics’ latest podcast, Compliance 101: Research Tools for Getting Started in Trade Compliance.

Presented by the Journal of Commerce, global trade compliance experts discuss the technology available to help companies of all sizes with managing classification and other critical compliance processes. Anthony Hardenburgh, VP Global Trade Content at Management Dynamics, and Ty Bordner, VP of Solutions Consulting at Management Dynamics, also provide details on the launch of a free trade tool that will soon be available to the trade community.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Global Trade Management Solution Is More Than Software

January 17, 2011 Caroline Global Trade Management, Global Trade Management Software, Trade Compliance, Trade Compliance Software, Trade Compliance Solutions No comments

What’s the big deal with “global trade content?” Governments and agencies around the world are all publishing the same data, so does it matter where you get it from?

In a word, Global Trade Content is a big deal, and it is extremely important where you get your data. Global Trade Content is the database of information that importers and exporters use to determine whether they are in compliance with international regulations.

global-trade-contentThis information ranges from the harmonized tariff schedules to classify goods, to the duty rates needed to calculate landed cost, to the IMEX controls that determine whether you can legally complete your transaction. To efficiently import or export goods, you need fast access to a comprehensive source of traded content for all the countries with which you trade.

Although there is only one official source of data from each governmental agency, it is impossible for an in-house trade compliance team to keep up with the volume that each agency in every country puts out. Additionally, all data providers are not created equal. Some do not adequately cover the regions you need, some update their data infrequently (delays in data updates of only 1 week can cost you dearly!) and some do not have the in-house expertise to interpret international regulations appropriately.

ChainLink Research Connects the Dots in Global Trade Management

ChainLink Research recently discussed the challenges of Global Trade Content in their blog:

In order to solve users’ challenges, software providers develop software. Users provide the data. But in GTM the data comes from thousands of external sources, i.e. government, trade groups, etc. So the ‘solution has to be more.’

Not only are there a plethora of changing regs that end-users have to be aware of, but those changes often force them to change orders or other shipping documents, duties, etc. On a more strategic level, they may actually force them to change their physical supply chain network (as well as potential third parties who provide services in these locations). Even in large firms, there is no staff equipped with the breadth of knowledge necessary to internalize all this information and then make the changes to their forms, fees, etc.

What’s the end result? By combining a comprehensive global trade content database that covers multiple types of regulations and agencies with a system that automatically updates all of your own data, companies can lower their risk of breaching standards or breaking the law, and reap cost savings. Accurate, real-time trade content helps prevent penalties and delays, and reduces non-compliance risks. And, automating the process frees up resources to work on more strategic initiatives.

As ChainLink Research puts it:

Making informed choices about what is actually happening in the Supply Chain, across the network of trading partners, can bring tangible cost savings to firms that can cycle time and thus inventory and other carrying costs, and avoid charge backs and late fees, because they are now armed with the knowledge of what happened in the chain.

Read the complete blog post at: ChainLink Research: Global Trade Management Solution is More Than Software

ITMS Benchmark Study: Technology Meets the Challenge of an Unanticipated Freight Volume Rebound

January 11, 2011 Caroline Customs Compliance, Trade Compliance, Trade Compliance Solutions No comments

American Shipper has released a new report, based on research gathered by a survey of nearly 300 transportation managers on their international and cross-border transportation management systems, best practices, and processes. ITMS Benchmark Study: Technology Meets the Challenge of an Unanticipated Freight Volume Rebound takes a look at how successful firms are managing international transportation, and looks for emerging trends that will develop in the near future.

american_shipper_itmsKey focus areas in the study include:

  • The number – or “patchwork” – of systems leading firms are using to manage ITMS
  • The business benefits of connecting the procure-to-pay cycle
  • The increased volumes ITMS users were able to handle in 2010
  • The increased visibility of successful ITMS users

Download your complimentary copy of the report here.

Bringing Trade Compliance into the Boardroom

November 23, 2010 Caroline Customs Compliance, Global Trade Management, Trade Compliance, Trade Compliance Solutions No comments

This September, American Shipper hosted a webinar covering a topic that many are interested in – but there are few resources are available to address the problem.  I’m not saying it was groundbreaking, but for once we were able to openly discuss what c-level executives need to hear to make trade compliance a priority.

If you missed it, you can still watch the recorded webinar online at anytime and download the slides for reference. The webinar was full of great tips to ensure success in raising the profile of your trade compliance department and securing the ever-elusive budget to implement enhancements. Here are four key takeaways that were discussed in the webinar.

What CEO’s Want and Don’t Want

trade-compliance-what-ceos-wantThe first step is to to think like an executive, talk like an executive, and walk like an executive. Getting into the mindset of your CEO is critical to be able to explain the importance of trade compliance in relation to his or her priorities.

If you conducted a survey of CEO’s top concerns, I would bet you would not see “Trade Compliance” on that list even once. Why? It’s just not on their radar when they’re trying to please shareholders, raise profits, and make headlines. That’s why it’s up to you to explain how trade compliance helps accomplish those goals, while preventing negative results like sales to bad guys and bad press.

How do global companies succeed?

Just like everyone else succeeds – they have a plan in place! To create a strategic GTM roadmap, first identify key systems objectives, such as integrating multiple systems onto one centralized platform, ensuring import and export compliance, and minimizing business continuity risk.

Then, benchmark and establish improvement objectives.  A great (and free) source of benchmarks is the new AberdeenGroup Report “Global Trade Management: Strategies for Mastering Trade Compliance and Supply Chain Complexity.”

Finally, it takes 5 steps to create a roadmap:

  1. Develop consistent reference data
  2. Establish baseline visibility across the organization
  3. Achieve global control
  4. Continuously improve through business intelligence data
  5. Reduce future costs by planning new initiatives.

The deep effects of global trade on your company’s bottom line

trade-compliance-aberdeen-statOne of the most surprising facts revealed during the webinar is that you may be the highest ranking person in your company who “gets” global trade.  If you are a director or VP, there probably isn’t a single person above you that can manage the company’s trade activities, and even analysts and administrators are not far behind.

Leverage your knowledge to communicate the importance of global trade on your company’s profitability. Don’t emphasize penalties, however, as scare tactics don’t always work to get your way. You ultimately want your trade compliance department to be seen as a strategic initiative to cut costs in the long run rather than prevent potential fines.

Speaking to CEO’s in their language

Bringing-Compliance-Into-Boardroom-phrasesPutting yourself in you CEO’s shoes, analyze what your corporate history has been, what the CEO has prioritized in the past, and the potential agendas of the others in the boardroom. C-level executives aren’t familiar with all the complex regulations and hundreds of acronyms we use every day when talking about trade compliance, so “translate” the key benefits of an improved trade compliance program into terms everyone understands, and no one can turn down.

For example, stating that you could “decrease the cycle clearance time” is not as impactful to an executive as being able to state, “We will achieve cost savings through decreased clearance cycle time by enhancing our trade compliance program.” The key is stating the end result: Cost savings, improved customer retention, or higher margins.

View the Recording: “Bringing Trade Compliance into the Boardroom”

Our expert panel discusses best strategies for compliance professionals to gain executive-level cooperation and sponsorship of new compliance initiatives. This webinar, hosted by American Shipper magazine, and presented by Management Dynamics and BPE,  is a must-see to help you get the attention your trade compliance department deserves from your C-level executives.

Executive Panel: Industry Leaders Discuss Global Trade Initiatives and Capabilities

November 22, 2010 Caroline Customs Compliance, Trade Compliance, Trade Compliance Solutions No comments

Webinar: Global Trade Initiatives & Capabilities
December 2, 2010 at 4 – 5PM, EST

Following the AberdeenGroup’s research with 136 enterprises from September and “regarding growth and complexity in global trade operations, we can see that changes in trade lanes, shifts in trade volume and increases in overall supply chain complexity have combined to place a renewed focus on the concept of global trade management and compliance,” said Bob Heaney, senior research analyst of supply chain management at Aberdeen.

Please join AberdeenGroup and distinguished industry executives (topic areas are considered sensitive and company names are not disclosed) as they discuss global trade management initiatives and practices within their enterprises around FTZ, Restricted Party Screening, 10+2 and other initiatives. Key topic areas covered in the recent report will also be highlighted.

After viewing this webinar, you will:

  • Understand the pros and cons of FTZs and other duty reduction provisions.
  • Lower your overall Landed Costs
  • Improve Import/Export document generation

Register Now!

Presenters:

Bob Heaney, Sr. Research Analyst, Supply Chain Management
Aberdeen Group

Craig M., Head of Customs Compliance
Large Global Copier OEM

Brian C., Director International Trade Compliance
Large Electronics Firm

Philip T., CFO of the North American Manufacturing Operations
Global Automaker/ Manufacturer

Video: University Export Compliance

October 25, 2010 Caroline Export Compliance, Trade Compliance, University Export Compliance No comments

An excellent video outlining the importance of university export compliance,describing the fundamental research exclusion, naming the “T-5″ highly restricted countries, screening restricted parties. This video was uploaded & produced by the Office of Research (ORTEC) at Ohio State University.

Any Buckeye fans in trade compliance? If so, bravo!

AberdeenGroup Releases New Trade Compliance Report

October 21, 2010 Caroline Customs Compliance, Global Trade Management, Trade Compliance, Trade Compliance Solutions, University Export Compliance No comments

The AberdeenGroup has come out with a brand new report, which will be available for free for a limited time –

Global Trade Management: Strategies for Mastering Trade Compliance and Supply Chain Complexity.

For this research report, Aberdeen surveyed 136 global exporters and importers in August and September of this year.

Their findings revealed that trade compliance teams are actively revamping and augmenting their Global Trade Management (GTM), specifically their Global Trade Compliance programs, to stay current with supply and demand fluctuations, growing global operations, increasing operational complexity and risk, and trade lane changes.

Here are a few key findings in the report:

  • Best-in-Class companies had 8.2% in average trade compliance cost to value ratio
  • Best-in-Class companies achieved 95.0% perfect order rate received on imports received from international suppliers
  • Best-in-Class companies experienced 96.0% for perfect order rate delivered on exports to international suppliers/customers
  • Best-in-Class companies improved their average trade compliance cost to value ratio by 1.4% improvement, year over year
  • Best-in-Class companies increased their total land cost per unit handled versus prior year by 0.6%, a 5.5 percentage point

Global-Trade-Mgmt-Report-Trade-Compliance-AberdeenGroup

Global Trade Management Software on the Rise

September 21, 2010 Caroline Customs Compliance, Global Trade Management, Global Trade Management Software, Trade Compliance, Trade Compliance Software, Trade Compliance Solutions No comments

Although international trade has been contracting throughout the world, the Global Trade Management software market has been faring quite well, according to ARC Advisory Group, a leading research firm in the supply chain industry, which discussed these interesting results in an article in SupplyChainBrain.com.

According to Steve Banker, Service Director for Supply Chain Management at ARC, “As trade recovers, the GTM market will recover as well, although we don’t expect strong growth until 2011.  Our five-year forecast through 2014, however, reflects very robust growth.”

Global Trade ComplianceDespite the decrease in trade, the need to increase efficiency, prevent fines, and reduce delays, is more important than ever when companies are facing hard times. Global Trade Management automates these processes and can help companies import and export more efficiently – saving organizations money even though sales may be down.

The Global Trade Management Outlook report by ARC also describes the increased need to up-to-date global trade content. Many types of critical data change on a near-daily basis. Companies may be unknowingly using outdated data, and paying more than necessary when sending their goods across border, risking fines for violating new trade laws, or doing business with a denied person that was recently added to a restricted party list.

ARCs key trade content areas include:

One way to easily begin keeping track of changes to this trade content is by subscribing to the GTM Newsletter, which contains a summary of updates from all of the above topics within Management Dynamics’ Global Trade Content database.

ARC Advisory Group summarizes by noting:

In short, managing the flow of goods, information, and money across borders is a highly complex, regulated, and dynamic process — and becoming more so every day.  Companies can no longer rely on manual processes to manage their global trade operations. This is why the global trade management systems market will be one of the fastest growing segments of the enterprise software industry.

Read the complete article on SupplyChainBrain.com: “Global Trade Management Market Does Surprisingly Well Despite Decline in Global Trade.”

Global Trade Management Software & Trade Compliance

Learn more about Global Trade Management software in our newest white paper, “Building an Export Compliance Program.” This white paper discusses six critical components that are involved in the implementation of an export management program, and shows how automation can assist such exporters in supporting their overall objective: minimizing risk and streamlining the supply chain while keeping operational costs at bay.

Receive this complimentary white paper today!

‘End-Use Manager’ Helps Companies Reduce Trade Compliance Risks

January 21, 2010 Caroline Customs Compliance, Trade Compliance, Trade Compliance Solutions No comments

New On-Demand Solution Enables Cross-functional Teams to Create and Manage End-Use Statements for Customers, Vendors and Employees

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ, January 20, 2010 — Management Dynamics, a leading provider of Global Trade Management solutions, today announced the release of End-Use Manager, an on-demand solution that generates end-use surveys for parties involved in any cross-border transaction.

The new solution allows a trade compliance team to comprehensively survey and collect end-use statements from customers, suppliers and employees, establishing a standardized process for managing and ensuring compliance with international trade regulations.

“Companies that manufacture and export licensable goods must ensure that their customer and the intended end-use are approved and in compliance with export regulations.  However, today this is largely a manual process that is difficult to administer, especially across a global enterprise,” said Adrienne Braumiller, Partner, Braumiller Schulz LLP.

Trade Compliance - End-Use Manager

Image by Anonymous9000

“Management Dynamics’ End-Use Manager provides companies with the tools necessary to ensure that their shipments are delivered to the approved trade party and destined for friendly end-use.”

End-Use Manager can be flexibly deployed as a Web-based portal across any global enterprise and configured to meet the specific requirements of different business units.  Surveys can be developed by business unit, transaction type, origin country and destination country, and populated with a pre-configured list of questions.  In addition, all parties to the transaction are screened against the major sanctioned party lists.

Read more

Trade Portals: Trade Compliance Collaboration Ahoy!

December 10, 2009 Caroline Customs Compliance, Export Compliance, Global Trade Management, Import Compliance, Trade Compliance, Trade Compliance Solutions No comments

Management Dynamics Releases New Trade Portals Product Line to Better Integrate Suppliers and Logistics Providers in Global Trade Management Processes

New Modules for Supplier PO and Origin Management Improve Control Over Execution Processes and Facilitate Advanced Notification Requirements

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ, December 8, 2009 — Management Dynamics, Inc., a leading provider of Global Trade Management (GTM) solutions, today announced the release of Trade Portals, a new product line to help companies extend purchasing, origin logistics, and compliance processes to their trading partners. By collaborating across a shared process with suppliers, forwarders, logistics providers and brokers, companies can reduce cycle time, lower supply chain execution costs, and better support compliance initiatives such as Customs 10+2.

As companies re-engineer their supply chains and shift production overseas, they often lose control over the procurement process, especially with regards to how it should integrate with their import compliance programs. Many importers face challenges when trying to manage a remote supply base. Examples include: coordination and management of confirmed orders, the monitoring of ship windows, coordination with origin logistics providers, and integration of the export transaction details with import entries.

Management Dynamics’ Trade Portals solution is comprised of three, on-demand, enterprise-class modules including Supplier PO Management, Supplier Solicitation Management, and Origin Management. It is designed to allow importers to configure these points of collaboration with key trading partners including suppliers, forwarders and customs brokers.

“With hundreds of suppliers and over 7,500 shipments to manage annually, we needed to empower our suppliers to review purchase orders and create shipments for approval,” John Wainwright, Vice President Customs Compliance, Leggett & Platt. “Management Dynamics’ Trade Portal solution helps us automate the workflow between suppliers and the shipment creation process – from point of purchase order, all the way through pre-customs entry – enabling us to centralize and streamline our global procurement process.”

Management Dynamics’ Trade Portal modules are highly configurable, on-demand solutions that can support multiple process variations with the following key capabilities:

  • Purchase Order life cycle management through shipment to invoice
  • State-of-the-art dashboard views and workflow tools
  • A multi-organization and role-based security model to organize suppliers and logistics providers by country or region and to establish standard operating procedures for each group
  • Multi-lingual support with language preference that can be assigned by user to improve supplier adoption
  • Flexible integration options including direct XML or EDI connectivity, spreadsheet uploads and web forms for manual data entry
  • Document generation engine creates all necessary supporting documentation prior to shipment that can be distributed via email with pre-defined rules
  • Integration with Management Dynamics’ Supply Chain Visibility, Trade Import and Trade Agreements solutions

“Top global supply chain operational initiatives today are focused on extending and synchronizing key execution processes with all trading parties,” said Nathan Pieri, SVP Marketing and Product Management for Management Dynamics. “Our new Trade Portal product line targets process gains in supplier collaboration and origin management to deliver key benefits of reducing supply chain execution costs and better supporting new security requirements like Customs 10+2.”

« Older Entries