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How can technology help streamline freight forwarding and Customs processes? What technologies should importers and exporters look for in a forwarder or Customs broker? 

If you are an importer, exporter, freight forwarder, or customs broker, you constantly hear more buzzwords about leveraging technology. New technologies are everywhere we look, and with the increase in AI technology hitting our industries, the trend isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

The important questions to consider are: ‘What is appropriate? What should be offered to valued customers, and how can technology be leveraged without compromising core values centered around customer service?’ Finding the right balance can be challenging, as plenty of bells and whistles are out there, but if not properly backed by quality data, what good are they?

Below are a few of the technology’s clients may consider when partnering with a forwarder and Customs broker:

• EDI and other connectivity options to share data electronically back and forth
• Web-based platforms to allow clients to track, trace, and interact 24/7
• Broker’s ability to upload and read certain types of documents, when provided in the appropriate format, to ensure the most accurate data entry and timely filings
• Mass uploads to FTP servers for compliant document storage on required cadences.
• Software to more accurately and timely pay vendors throughout the supply chain to ensure cargo is not unnecessarily delayed

These tools and others not listed assist our team and clients daily. Nevertheless, manual steps and auditing still must happen to deliver good data and, most importantly, keep the freight moving. That is why it is not easy to envision a time when people will not remain the company’s greatest asset. We still must train, educate, and adapt to the changing landscape and regulations of the international shipping world. A good service provider must tweak and add technology into these business practices to stay at the industry forefront. It is not to replace people but rather to help them accomplish more than they could before.

We will not stop finding better ways to accomplish the services we offer our customers, but it remains essential to realize that not everything fits in the same box. Not one customer operates in the exact same fashion as the other. Unless that changes, we must leverage our people with the technology to create unique environments around specific needs.

Ships, trains, planes, nor trucks move cargo. People Do, and technology helps People Do.