( This article is excerpted from the complimentary report:
Using Global Trade Data-as-a-Service for Competitive Advantage, available for download here. )
Part Two of this series described example applications of Trade DaaS. Here we look at evaluating providers.
Evaluating Providers and Getting Started
What to Look for in a Trade DaaS Provider
Not all Trade DaaS providers are equal. Here are some things to look for when evaluating a provider:
- ERP/GTM Integration — Which ERP/GTM systems have they implemented prebuilt integration with — which workflows, what data, and how integrated? How many integration projects (and what kind) have they done for your particular ERP system?
- Completeness and Robustness of Data — Try to get a sense of the scope of the data they have such as:
- Import/Export Data — How many countries; how often do they download; what is their process1 for extracting, cleaning up, and enriching?
- Denied Parties Lists — The number of lists can be misleading, since there is no standard way to count lists. Try to find out exactly which lists they maintain, how often they update them, which are updated automatically and which data is gathered manually, at what frequency.
- Duties and Tariffs — Which countries, how often updated, and what is the update process?
- Harmonization Codes and Rulings — Which countries? How do they keep up with different regulatory and legal rulings?
- Real-time and Bulk Data — What APIs and web services do they offer? Methods of bulk data loading?
- Dynamic Screening Service — Do they provide dynamic screening, actively monitoring your customer list and providing alerts if any of your customers get put on any of the lists?
- Fuzzy Logic — Do they have logic to minimize both false positives and false negatives2 in denied party screening? What are the false positive and false negative rates? How were those rates measured?
Why Trade DaaS, Why Now?
The negative consequences of non-compliance are growing. We are seeing fines in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Governments are starting to levy fines against the individuals responsible, as well, compliance more important than ever. Trade DaaS can be used to make the compliance processes less burdensome, so that other functions do not view compliance as a hindrance business. Trade DaaS can automatically catch problems early, before they do real damage via real-time denied party screening and real-time access to duties and tariff. Beyond compliance, Trade DaaS can help companies realize a competitive advantage through a combination of:
- More, better qualified leads, contributing to a healthy sales pipeline
- Better ecommerce user experience — easy, reliable, with no surprising fees or shipment delays
- Lower total landed cost and lower COGS via compliant duty optimization
- Fewer supply chain disruptions and delays
- Competitive intelligence, knowing what your competition is doing, and staying one step ahead of them
There are powerful reasons to consider adopting trade content-as-service today without delay. The ROI is there and Trade DaaS can more than pay for itself directly by reduction in manual effort and the cost of errors. Now is a good time to look at how a Trade Data-as-a-Service can help your business grow and compete.
__________________________________________
1 For example, do they compare house and master BoLs to improve quality? — Return to article text above
2 Too many false positives create extra work and lost sales opportunities. False negatives create possibilities for fines. — Return to article text above
To view other articles from this issue of the brief, click here.