‘The future is now’: Why you should join the digital pilots and become a pioneer in trade tech

Update: the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is extending the deadline the digital trade corridor pilot to 5 December, 23:45 GMT.

In these times when companies are facing constantly increasing costs, there are limited opportunities for businesses to reduce spending without leaving the consumer to absorb additional expenses.

Globally, it is getting more expensive to run a business, and consumers are increasingly looking for ways to cut their own costs. Companies that don’t adapt to change the way they conduct their business operations could easily fall behind their more agile competitors.

And, as unstable geopolitics meets a difficult business environment, falling behind could be highly damaging for many companies.

The solution

However, taking your company on a journey of digital transformation and implementing digital trade technology is one of the most important ways of keeping up with the competition.

While the market of trade tech is constantly evolving and growing – offering many off-the-shelf solutions addressing the right problems – for various traders, taking that first step into digitalising their supply chain processes is the most challenging move of all.

Luckily, there’s a great chance to join one of the next major innovations in UK trade, one that could save firm millions in costs and hours in administration. The best part: it’s free to join and collaborate with the ecosystem of partners and technology providers.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is inviting businesses importing and exporting to and from Germany and France to join the Digital Trade Corridor (DTC) pilots, thereby taking part in an initiative that will help participants to make their international trade easier.

Seamless trade

The premise of the DTC pilots is to ensure seamless trade and create savings by helping them switch from using paper trade documents to their digital equivalents. Companies will be able to collaborate with trade tech providers that will also join the pilots and ship goods between the UK and the designated countries.

This is not the first time the UK government is testing this DTC concept. Pilots have previously seen faster shipments, up to 90% less paperwork and emails, as well as a 25% decrease in admin costs.

The pilots will be taking a ‘small steps’ approach. It’s not about changing the entire process at once but instead testing scenarios that will create the proof of concept for further progress. It will also show how digital trade can be used across the supply chain to reduce costs and reduce the time it takes to ship goods.

Electronic trade documents

It’s also about getting firms benefitting from some of the more important changes to modern trade that have been made in the last few years.

The Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023 was brought in to streamline trade and bring customs into the 21^st century. Estimates from the government suggest it could save businesses millions in costs and delays.

However, many firms have not yet fully utilised this valuable tool and still rely on paper documents, despite the extra costs and risks attached.

Many businesses I speak to say they want to change, but don’t understand how or feel they can’t afford to. Smaller companies, in particular, say they are having the biggest problems keeping up with their larger competitors.

That’s why these trials are important. They will not impact your day-to-day operations and don’t require you to retrain your entire staff, but do allow you to look at how to use technology in a smarter way. It also allows you to position yourself at the forefront of modern business practices, becoming a pioneer taking you ahead of the competition.