Process Optimization -Why It Matters
Election Day in the US is 3 weeks from today, wow, seeing that in print surprised me more than a Christmas count down.
If you are a global trade professional, the impact of an election year regardless of your politics, certainly commands a place at the top of your list of events that affect how you do your job. I purposely didn’t list it as a “worry” or “what keeps you up at night”. Worries do little good, but paralyze your ability to think clearly. I prefer to focus the compliance team’s energy on mapping out what processes are 1)Essential to the business 2)Are most affected by trade policy fluctuation 3)Affect the Customers, and in that order.
Essential To The Business: The Who, How and Why
Vendor/Supplier Management - Where do your goods or critical components come from and which are at the most risk of disruption? Does your Supplier Code of Conduct, Contracts, and POs contain binding language that ensures cooperation in the event that you need their assistance with a new regulatory requirement or for audit purposes?
Service Providers - Who are your partners in each of your critical trade lanes? Do you have KPIs that drive expectations for how they will handle your business? Can you quickly access the data you need from their systems to make sound decisions? How strong is your relationship, are you just a number, or do you feel like you have a mutual benefit in each other’s success?
Customer Service - Does your compliance team know what is critical to the international sales process? Has the team shadowed the sales and service functions of the business to see firsthand how changes to the compliance program have downstream effects on daily operations?
Most Effected By Trade Policy: Risk Assessment
Although business specific, a good rule of thumb is to take the time to sit with each department (e.g., R&D, Engineering, Marketing, Operations, Distribution, Sales & Customer Service), your goal is to understand what each team does as it pertains to what your team supports. This is an opportunity to “kill two birds”, 1)Learning about their processes 2)Mini training session on compliance and reviewing how it specifically applies to each segment of the company. Small bites of knowledge transfer + insights = risk avoidance. You’ll be able to adapt and act with more impact if you understand what each team needs.
Affects Your Customers: They Are Your Reason
Know how your customer base is split up, who owns each, and what is most important to the customer. Underestimating the impact that global trade has on your customer leads to mishandling of change and possible loss of business. Making sure you have a relationship with your business development and account management teams provides the insight needed to mitigate risk and disruption for your customers. Some disruption is unavoidable, but it’s how you handle it that sets you apart and becomes a competitive advantage in international markets. Your customer wants to know that their supply chain is stable and that they can count on your goods and services in times of uncertainty.
Conclusion
Process optimization is key to driving efficiency and reducing operational costs in global trade and compliance. By evaluating and streamlining workflows, businesses can eliminate redundancies, enhance accuracy, and improve the overall speed of trade operations. Optimized processes not only ensure compliance with regulatory requirements but also enable organizations to respond quickly to changes in the global landscape, from new tariffs to evolving export controls. Through automation, data integration, and continuous improvement strategies, companies can achieve greater operational transparency, reduce manual intervention, and increase scalability. Evolution Trade Solutions LLC. helps companies maximize their resources while creating a more agile and resilient supply chain.
