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International Trade Automation for Import and Export Businesses

Published on 16 December 2020
Automation in Foreign Trade
Subhash Sidharthan
Subhash Sidharthan
Delivery Manager

Subhash Sidharthan heads the SAP Services & Localization for Applexus Technologies. Subhash has an experience of over 24 years spanning over consulting, pre sales and delivery in the areas of logistics and international trade with multiple sectors such as manufacturing, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals and telecom.

The VUCA world we live in today is perhaps all the more fraught because of the pandemic, and now more than ever, we understand that the businesses can indeed change overnight. This is true especially in the area of global trade, where different regulations exist for different nations and the interpretation of data varying as we move from one nation to the other. To maximize the potential in the international trade business, organizations around the globe today are slowly moving away from manual processes with scattered data towards an automated, streamlined international trade business.

The main problems that organizations indulging in foreign trade businesses face include:

  1. High indirect transactional taxation due to erroneous or duplicate manual processing
  2. Time consuming processes of import-export documentation and classification processes; and
  3. Shipping delays and compliance violations

Manual processes imply that there is a further amount of time spent in obtaining, collating and analyzing data, resulting in delayed decision making and in all probability, costly errors. So what’s that one way solution out of this drawn out process?

Automating Foreign Trade Transactions

Automation in Foreign Trade Business will ensure the compliance with respect to the myriad of international trade rules and regulations in place. Arne Mielken, Senior Trade Specialist at Amber Road writes on how Global Trade Management Solutions are able to integrate global sourcing, supply chain risk, along with logistics and trade compliance processes. At a higher level, foreign trade automation automates the entire lifecycle of the foreign trade functions across the supply chain to significantly reduce unplanned transactional taxes while improving operating efficiencies and gross margin.

Other benefits of investing in international trade automation include:

  • Risk management
    • Continuous monitoring of data for compliance to norms
    • Identification of potential compliance violations well in advance
  • Reduced Costs
    • Elimination of duplicate activities and transactions
    • Elimination of repetitive, non-productive manual work
  • Increased ROI
    • Reduced service provider fees and accessorial charges
    • Eliminating Revenue Loss due to improper management of documentation process
    • Reduce total cost of ownership for automated systems and processes
  • Increased Value
    • Increased alignment to business needs and among departments
    • Sustainability of processes
    • Access to instant trade tax updates leveraging the relationship between the solution providers and the Govt.  

Even with these benefits, organizations shy away from global trade automation for a variety of reasons. According to the Global Trade Automation Survey Report, 33% of respondents cited budgetary constraints as the major reason that prevented them from automating their foreign trade, followed by Complexity of the IT landscape (27%). However, once implemented, 61% of the respondents indicated a clear realization of their expected benefits, while others spoke of a partial realization in the same.

Applexus nEXIM for Foreign Trade Business Management

Applexus has developed its solution, nEXIM, for seamlessly managing & tracking the foreign trade business transactions and to ease the complexities mentioned above. An add-on to SAP EXIM, nEXIM is currently being used by clients across the world to manage their Export-Import Licenses and export incentives, automate documentation, and manage trade finance instruments such as Letter of Credit, Export Documentation, Goods in Transit and Bill of Entry. nEXIM stands as Applexus India’s first co-innovation with SAP, and is certified for integration with SAP S4/HANA. Cost efficient, transparent and customizable to your organization’s needs, nEXIM transforms the way you conduct your foreign trade business transactions!

Stating the final point, Applexus, with its technological expertise and this customer first attitude is thus the go-to product for your organization to deliver its foreign trade solutions above the salt.

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