New Global Trade Management: Connecting Upstream Decisions to Improve Downstream Execution

Although many companies are engaged in global trade, that doesn’t mean they are getting the most out of their processes or technology systems designed to streamline international business.

In the past, GTM began when the shipment was ready and involved moving it from origin to destination at the lowest possible cost and in a timely manner. In contrast, the new GTM recognizes the increasing complexity involved in global trade, and the need to encompass design, production, and sourcing decisions as part of the end-to-end scope. The new GTM includes all existing functionality required to ship, track, qualify, and import/export goods with minimal risk, in addition to all the execution activities and the ability to source, qualify, cost and produce the product.

Historically, the lack of transparency into the upstream decision processes involving sourcing often created issues at the execution level. Incorporating upstream decisions into the end to-end process of global trade is what the new GTM is all about.

This holistic approach requires a much broader end-to-end perspective involving processes, collaboration, workflows, connectivity and visibility, all operating in real-time. The functionality required to support these end-to-end processes, while providing connectivity to the supporting partner and network ecosystem, are now table stakes for a new GTM solution.