by Kirk Lundburg, CEO at Trade Technologies
The outbreak of coronavirus and the sudden move to work from home has validated the use of cloud-based solutions to manage trade transactions for export credit, logistics, and execution teams. Many multinational manufacturing companies and commodities traders were caught off guard as their systems and processes were not ready to support remote work. Even as supply chains recovered to move physical goods, exporters struggled to bill and collect payment since workers were still dislocated.
These disruptions exposed the brittle nature of the global financial supply chain.
Traditionally the export credit, logistics, and execution teams at global exporters have relied on processes and systems that worked in silos housed in desktop computers in traditional offices. Multiple handoffs involving physical exchange of data and documents had to be seamlessly executed for every transaction to move from sales to credit to execution to logistics. This process was entirely disrupted by the pandemic closings and work from home orders.
Cloud Software Solutions to the Rescue
However, companies that had outsourced their trade documentation to technology-enabled providers or who had invested in cloud-based systems to manage their documents found their foresight rewarded immensely with the unprecedented crisis brought on by the pandemic.
Here are a few ways in which customers using cloud software solutions could adapt to the work from home regimen:
- Connectivity: Exporters with access to cloud-based document management technology remained connected regardless of location. They could shift work from office to home or one location to another seamlessly as required to compensate for office closings, transaction fluctuations or illness.
- Visibility: Cloud-based solutions offered 24*7 real-time visibility and a single view on the status of trade documentation. This visibility helped exporters make informed business decisions regardless of location or time zone.
- Automation: Automation ensured that manual intervention throughout this process was minimal, giving teams the much-needed bandwidth to sort out core operations and high priority issues to ensure business continuity.
- Collections: With cloud-based platforms allowing digital presentation and exchange of documents at the click of a button, exporters faced no delay in collecting payment.
With resilient processes and forward looking technology already in place, exporters using cloud-based platforms experienced a softer landing despite the severity of the global trade crisis.
Cloud-Powered Documentation Securing the Future of Global Trade
The cloud market is anticipated to grow at 12.5% CAGR by 2021 to USD 295 billion following the global impact of COVID-19. With several companies opting to go completely remote even after the pandemic or adopt a hybrid model with significant periods of work from home, the future of global trade will become borderless too.
Drawing on decades of experience, our industry-leading platform, TradeSharp, can help you streamline, centralize, and automate the creation and delivery of trade documentation end-to-end. Curious to know more about how TradeSharp can help you level-up your trade documentation processes? Request a demo today.
