So your trade is ready, your processes are set, you have executed the trade perfectly, but now you are faced with a major problem..
PAPER DOCUMENTS and the time it takes for the tens of paper documents to be collated, checked, verified for a shipment and safely transferred between the various stakeholders involved in the cycle..
Banks, Chambers of Commerce, forwarders, carriers, couriers, more banks and eventually the customer.. Paper documents could be misplaced, delayed or lost anywhere in between..
So the final step in effective and seamless trade execution is TRADE DIGITALISATION..
What is Trade Digitalisation
If you are wondering What the heck is Trade Digitalisation, it is simply the shift from paper documents and manual handoffs to structured, legally recognised digital records that move securely between partners.. It is not about removing people or processes; it is about improving them..
In short: digitalisation does not replace the work of trade, it removes the friction that slows it down..
What digitalisation means for your trade
A digitalised trade means your trade documents move quicker through the chain, enabling speedier transactions and smoother cash flow, with documents that can be tracked and verified at every step instead of quietly going missing between a courier and a bank..
Digitalisation starts with your documents.. What is in them, what is missing, and where the same piece of information appears three different ways across three different documents..
So that is where we start.. Going through your trade documents and the data in them, working out which ones are ready to move as data, which ones need fixing first, and in what order to do it..
Once that is clear, decisions about platforms, providers and systems become much easier to make..
HM Business Solutions & Trade Digitalisation
HMBS can help you in your trade digitalisation journey.. Why..??
Because Hariesh Manaadiar is a part of the working group on Key Trade Documents and Data Elements (KTDDE), which is a part of the International Chamber of Commerce’s Digital Standards Initiative, which sits within the broader Cross-border Paperless Trade Toolkit co-published by the WTO, UNESCAP and UNCITRAL in 2022.. You can view a short video on KTDDE (including yours truly) for further information, below..
You have the support and guidance of someone who is actually working with global agencies digitalising trade documentation..
Just as the English language works as a common language for global business, KTDDE works as a common standard for trade documents, so that a small trader in one country and a large corporate in another use the same formats and mean the same thing by each data element..
Click below to tell us what you want to digitalise in your trade..
