What should good GTM software offer to businesses?
Global trade management (GTM) software should be an essential asset for any business involved in world trade. Having a single solution to centralize critical import, export and supply chain activities streamlines everyday business activities, makes sure firms are in compliance with local and international rules and regulations, and provides complete transparency throughout the supply chain.
But what should these software tools include, and how do they ensure importers and exporters can effectively navigate a complex global environment?
The benefits of GTM software
GTM software offers a range of advantages to businesses. Firstly, it allows them to greatly streamline their operations and ensure consistency throughout the organization. In turn, this leads to major efficiency gains that free up the time of employees and results in much reduced costs.
It also makes it much easier to retain compliance with customs regimes around the world. Having a single solution that can guarantee classifications are assigned correctly and all required information is automatically sent to the relevant authorities reduces the risk of paperwork delays impacting shipments and cuts down on errors such as inaccurate, incomplete or duplicated information being submitted.
Elements any GTM software should include
A comprehensive GTM software solution should provide companies with several critical elements, all of which work together to minimize compliance risk and reduce expenses for importers and exporters. These include the following:
Classification
Classification tools ensure that firms are always able to apply the correct codes to their goods, regardless of where in the world they are shipping to and from. This should include both Harmonized System numbers and any country-specific codes that may be required in order to track goods.
This is essential if firms are to pay the correct duties on imports, maintain compliance with licensing or quota requirements and keep full visibility throughout their supply chain. Any errors in assigning classifications can lead to major delays in shipping being cleared by customs or result in financial penalties, which can be avoided with the right technology solutions.
Customs filing
Automated customs filing solutions are another key component of effective GTM software. These should be able to adapt to the unique requirements of any given country or territory, as well as take into account any specific customs regimes, free trade zones, duty drawbacks, processing trade and other relief from duties. Being able to do this from one place also removes the need for a complex system of country-specific solutions, which may each have their own requirements and be hard to integrate effectively.
The ability to connect directly with electronic filing solutions for customs around the world provides direct data exchange with both authorities and brokers. This greatly expedites the filing of essential documentation, as well as boosting transparency by automatically creating a fully auditable trail of activities held in a single central location.
Export control management
Ensuring compliance with export control requirements is another vital part of international trade, as the consequences for businesses that fail to meet their responsibilities can be severe. However, this is no easy task, as there are thousands of restricted lists around the world that shipments will need to be checked against, and these are constantly evolving as new names and restrictions are added and lifted.
Export bans, limitations on dual-use items, controlled party lists and sanctions all need to be taken into account. This can quickly become overwhelming, so the ability to manage this automatically through GTM software is essential in ensuring firms remain compliant.
Origin calculation
Determining rules of origin is among the most complex parts of international trade, particularly for manufactured goods that include large numbers of individually-sourced components. However, ensuring you're providing the right information is critical if firms are to take full advantage of free trade agreements and other international trade rules.
As well as making it easy to identify which items may be eligible for tax relief under FTAs, this also helps firms maintain control of suppliers around the globe, automatically handle required paperwork and ensure all components are fully traceable.
Data analytics
There's more to an effective solution than compliance, however. Advanced data analytics are also a must for importers and exporters. This can provide critical insight into patterns, emerging trends, opportunities and potential problems in your supply chain. Having this available on-demand, in an easy-to-understand, visual format is therefore essential.
What to look for in a GTM provider
A good GTM software solution should be able to integrate effectively with other critical applications, including supply chain management software, enterprise resource planning tools and other mission-critical infrastructure.
The ability to connect directly with digital customs portals around the world is another must-have. Many countries have strict requirements for connectivity, so tools that comply with as wide a variety of solutions as possible reduce the need to invest in multiple dedicated systems. In addition, comprehensive analytics and reporting tools are vital in boosting transparency and auditability.
FAQs
Yes. Sanctions and denied party screening are delivered through MIC's Export Control Management (ECM) module with MIC DPS, designed to catch compliance risks before a transaction proceeds. Business partners (customers, suppliers, service providers, and employees, including their addresses) are screened against restricted party lists from more than 30 countries, covering the major US (OFAC, BIS), EU, UN, and UK lists. The underlying content is maintained by MIC and updated daily, so you always screen against current data. Key capabilities include:
- Real-time, manual, batch, and automated delta screening, which re-checks only what has changed
- Configurable matching and thresholds that handle name variations and reduce false positives
- Screening is embedded directly into business processes, automatically raising an alert or blocking a transaction when a potential match is identified
- Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) screening for over 20 million companies worldwide
- Real-time integration with MIC-CUST®, so screening runs automatically when export declarations are filed and results are linked directly to the customs declaration workflow
Duty reduction is driven by MIC's Origin Calculation System (OCS), which automates preferential origin determination for bills of materials so you can claim free trade agreement (FTA) benefits. MIC-OCS calculates preferential origin across 250+ FTAs (including USMCA, EU-UK (TCA), CETA, and EU-Japan, EU-Mercosur and provides What-If simulations to assess the impact of sourcing changes.
Highlights include:
- A supplier portal that collects and validates long-term and per-order supplier declarations, with automated reminders
- What-if simulations that compare duty savings before you change sourcing
- Automatic duty, tax, and VAT calculation in MIC-CUST® Import
- Built-in duty savings analytics to monitor FTA utilization and identify opportunities
- Audit-ready certificates of origin, with every calculation archived to defend against clawbacks
Combined with MIC-Cust’s special customs procedures such as bonded warehouse, inward and outward processing, and free trade zones, this helps you defer, reduce, or eliminate duty across the supply chain.
MIC's GTM suite works as an integrated layer on top of your existing ERP and logistics systems rather than as a separate silo. The connectivity is handled through MIC-EDIS (Enterprise Data Integration System), which automatically exchanges data with ERP, CRM, and warehouse systems, with third-party providers, and with customs authorities. The MIC SAP Connect is an interface, which is also listed on the SAP Certified Solutions Directory. In practice, this means:
- Bidirectional, automated data flow, so orders, deliveries, and bills of material come into MIC, while results such as customs status, tariff numbers, and screening outcomes are written back into your ERP
- Updates triggered automatically when documents are created or changed, with no duplicate manual entry
- Certified SAP interfaces for S/4HANA (including Cloud Private Edition) and ECC 6.0, following SAP's “Clean Core” principles so upgrades stay safe
- Support for non-SAP systems such as Oracle and Microsoft Dynamics
- The ability to monitor customs status and print documents without leaving your ERP
Keeping current with regulatory change is handled by MIC's Global Trade Content Service (GTCS), the data engine behind the platform, so your team never has to track changes manually across hundreds of authority sources. How it works:
- Coverage for more than 150 countries, including tariff schedules, duty and tax rates, exchange rates, export control and sanctions lists, rules of origin, and non-tariff measures
- A dedicated content team and established trade content partners (such as Mendel Verlag) monitor legislative and tariff changes worldwide
- Updates are checked by both the content provider and MIC, then pushed automatically into your system, with daily updates for fast-moving data such as sanctions lists and exchange rates
- The same maintained content feeds every module, so classification, origin, screening, and filing all use one consistent, current dataset
Return on a GTM investment comes from four main levers, with duty savings usually the largest and most measurable:
- Duty and tax savings, by systematically claiming FTA preferences and using special customs procedures (bonded warehouse, processing relief, free trade zones, and more) to lower landed cost, scaling with import volume and the share of trade eligible for preference
- Process efficiency, by pulling data directly from your ERP, auto-classifying goods, and automating declarations and supplier solicitation, which removes large volumes of manual work and lets trade teams handle more without adding headcount
- Risk and penalty avoidance, through automated, audit-logged screening and always-current content that reduce the risk of fines and shipment holds and strengthen the case for trusted trader status such as AEO
- Centralization and scalability, by replacing fragmented local tools with one global platform that lowers total cost of ownership as you expand into new markets
As a standard part of every engagement, MIC builds a business case on your actual trade data, including import volumes, duty spend, FTA eligibility, and transaction counts, to quantify your expected savings and payback period.
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