The rise of AI has impacted almost every aspect of the economy in recent years - and trade is no different. But the possibilities of the technology go beyond automating everyday processes and helping with activities such as customs classification. Another area in which these tools are proving invaluable is managing the complex documentation required for customs clearances and compliance.
For many firms, handling paperwork is still a labor-intensive, manual process. This doesn't just mean extra effort and longer customs clearance times. It could also put businesses at risk of providing inaccurate, outdated or incomplete information. In turn, this may lead to a range of issues at ports of entry or if firms are required to provide paperwork as part of an audit.
The challenges posed by manual document processing
Handling the vast volumes of documentation required is a major challenge for any business, especially as so much of this exists in unstructured, hard to categorize formats. Indeed, according to Gartner, as much as 80 percent of data in use today is unstructured.
When it comes to trade, this can come in many forms. Bills of lading, certificates of origin, invoices, packing lists, export licenses, contracts and emails from suppliers are just some of the complex documentation that businesses must deal with. These often include free-form text, spreadsheets and financial data in a range of formats - and sometimes even in multiple languages.
While many customs authorities have fully embraced digitalization for their reporting and customs duties payments systems, this does not solve the problem. In fact, it may even create new issues when firms are dealing with multiple different platforms, each with their own data entry requirements.
In many cases, documentation has to be scanned, converted into the correct format and thoroughly checked before it can be submitted. Failure to do this effectively can have huge impacts in terms of added costs and inefficiencies. This is not to mention the many compliance risks it can pose, such as misclassifications, undervaluations or incorrect declarations.
How AI-driven automation offers a transformative solution
The solution to this is increasingly to turn to AI. This can greatly enhance document processing every step of the way. From ingesting paper-based documentation through scanners and advanced character recognition technology to converting unstructured data into the right formats and checking for accuracy, the right tools offer a strategic solution for streamlining these critical but tedious aspects of trade management.
MIC's DODCLFOW, for example, uses a combination of intelligent document processing (IDP) technologies and AI agents to eliminate manual data entry and validation tasks. This includes optical character recognition to convert paper and PDF docs into workable digital formats and natural language processing to interpret and understand the information it is ingesting.
In addition, large language model-based AI and machine learning enable the tools to learn more about the business, identify patterns and flag any anomalies or inaccuracies.
When taken together, this allows businesses to read data digitally, refine it into the correct formats and apply learnings. In short, this means higher accuracy, more efficient data processing and, ultimately, smoother flow of goods around the world.
In a challenging and rapidly-changing environment, this gives firms one less thing to worry about and frees up employees for more useful tasks, safe in the knowledge all their trade documentation is complete, accurate and available on demand.
