What does digitalisation mean for the customs industry?
It’s basically the only way forward. Governments and customs declarants need to manage much larger amounts of data than they did before, and there are restrictions that come with that.
It’s not cost-effective, nor physically possible in some cases, to have people manually sitting and capturing all that information at the border. Unless we [the customs industry] automate our processes to a large extent, then the whole sector will become less efficient. It’s just not going to be viable.
Supply chains have also become far more complex than they were before, involving many moving parts and procedures across multiple sites. It’s not enough to have one good warehouse or order management system – you need them to be able to work together.
More than that, you need it to be as simple as possible. Manual entry and compiling reports from multiple sources are inefficient. This is why we’ve worked hard to make it easier, because data mapping and two-way EDI integration provide the complete, reliable, up to date information that you need.
Without digitalisation, or advanced digitalisation, the risk and costs of inefficiency are ever-present. You cannot scale, pivot, or run without being able to rely on the customs system you have behind you.
What are some of the risks of moving away from manual entry or particularly paper-based customs?
The main risk is data quality, but this is already a risk with paper-based customs because data can never truly be clean within this framework.
By pulling information into systems automatically, we create more time. This allows us to spend more time on the areas which are of concern – namely compliance, security, and overseeing that everything is generally working as should be.
This is how we can address data quality – by monitoring everything closely and adjusting when we find an inefficiency. You cannot do this so well with paper-based customs.
You’re in Felixstowe. Has that office always been quite digitally savvy when it comes to innovation in customs?
Absolutely. Our IT director, Ash Taylor, has been working with digital solutions since the times of UK Customs Solutions [acquired by Customs Support in 2021], so our processes have always been digital first.
Ash and the team here were also heavily involved in creating our end-to-end customs clearance service, which involves mapping data between countries and the export/import procedure. We haven’t stopped at the declarations, though, working to feed that data through warehouse systems, ERPs, and other supply chain software to save time, money, and risk for our customers.
Furthermore, many of our customers are authorised to use enhanced customs procedures, so our compliance controls are far greater compared to the standard for customs brokers. This is why we haven’t worked just to save time with digital solutions – we’ve prioritised accuracy and compliance in every step.
What do you think traders should be doing to prepare for the increasing digitalisation in customs processes?
This is an area we are focussing on at Customs Support at the moment: helping you get prepared.
We are fortunate that we have our own software developers with customs expertise and some exceptional customs consultants, both here in the UK and in Europe, so we’ve been able to test systems and steer our clients towards more automations throughout their supply chains.
For the most part, traders need to work with getting their partners to embrace digitalisation in customs and logistics as a whole. Scraping PDFs for information, even when it’s done by a machine, is a risk. The quality of that PDF or the skills of the person inputting the data from it will never be foolproof. Therefore, it is far better to create a mechanism of data sharing that cuts out this step.
The sooner it becomes habit for traders to automate sections of their supply chains, the easier it will be to move with the industry. Helping customers complete this transition in the right way is what we do at Customs Support.
What do you think the future of digital customs looks like?
One important factor for us is that we know we will do things differently in the UK compared to how we would have done things as part of the European Union. There is a significant focus from HMRC to simplify things at the border as part of the UK Target Operating Model and overall, 2025 border strategy.
What I anticipate this will mean for the industry is that the standard import clearance into free circulation will become an incredibly easy and accessible process. Low-volume companies and individuals will be able to complete these themselves with less expertise required. What we [Customs Support] are focusing on are those specialist services which add value to the customs function.
Whether that’s entering goods into suspended duty regimes, enabling duty management services such as Inward Processing Relief or the use of a bonded warehouse, or supporting an operation with advanced EDI connections, these are the specialist areas where real expertise will continue to be valued and leveraged to its full extent.
For example, one of our customers is a retailer that uses customs bonded warehouses and distributes to both the UK and the Republic of Ireland. They can’t wait days for a declaration to be done, have 1,000s of products that can be moved at any one time, and the orders can change at any moment. Our digital solution allows them to pick a 5,000-item order in the warehouse and, almost immediately, create the release into free circulation for UK-destined goods, the export clearance from the UK for ROI-destined goods, and then the import declaration in the Republic of Ireland.
We are also at the forefront of integration for Northern Ireland movements. So far, we are the only company we know of that can do the full OSR (Onward Supply Relief) process automatically, and we continue to closely monitor upcoming developments in Northern Ireland with the Windsor Agreement.
From a wider perspective the future will focus on creating visibility and seamless collaboration across the supply chain. At Customs Support, we are continuing to develop solutions that increase insight, improve timelines, and remove the growing complexity from our customers’ trade movements.
It’s these solutions that will make the difference to companies, and it’s up to those of us in the industry to develop these innovative tools that enable global trade by making customs simple.
What would you recommend for businesses looking to get started with digitisation in customs?
At Customs Support, we work with businesses to improve the speed, accuracy, and compliance of their customs. More than that, we provide our clients with high-quality data that can be relied on for big decisions, and is available when they need it.
If you want your business to benefit from the digitalisation of your customs processes, or need some guidance on assessing the potential benefits, contact one of our experts today.
