Manual Documentation Challenges in Export and How to Overcome Them
As an exporter, your work life is fulfilling and challenging. One of the most persistent challenges faced by exporters is handling manual documentation. From export declaration forms to bills of lading, managing these documents can be time-consuming and prone to errors.
At LeRemitt, we’ve worked closely with exporters and identified key pain points. Keep reading this article to the end as we discuss manual documentation challenges and an innovative way to overcome them. In international trade, you must have a team to handle documentation like the export declaration form, bill of lading, etc. These documents will also vary as per the destination country’s rules.
Here are some common challenges you may be currently facing.
Manual Documentation - A Time-consuming process
One of the main challenges with manual documentation is that it can take time to complete. The process becomes even more tedious when there’s employee turnover and an entirely new team or person handles it.
Prone to Errors and inaccuracies
Since the process is handled manually, this can result in human errors, especially when faced with tight deadlines and voluminous paperwork. Data entry, checking, document generation, and verification are repetitive processes that hold little interest to the person carrying out the task. This can lead to fatigue, inaccuracies, and a domino effect of delays and issues.
Compliance and regulatory issues
Countries worldwide encourage export trade and want to regulate it to ensure economic balance. To this end, they have some checks to minimize risks and prevent fraud. Manual documentation may miss certain aspects, resulting in compliance and regulatory issues.
High-cost and resource-intensive process
Imagine a team being employed and paid only to handle export-related documentation! This is a costly affair and can often lead to mistakes and rework. Your documentation team may also feel demotivated due to the repetitive and detailed work required to ensure documentation is correct and prepared on time. There’s also the need to spend funds on printing, filing, and storing this paperwork.
● Also Read: Documents required for cross-border trade
Access issues and lack of collaboration
Creating documentation manually and storing them physically creates silos and hinders collaboration across teams. In a crunch situation where teams are working quickly to produce the required documentation, there could be duplicating efforts, late sharing of relevant information, and miscommunication, leading to many issues. The situation can become further complicated if the documentation is created at one location and the authorized signatory at another.
Tracking and control issues
With the manual documentation process, tracking who has done which part of the work is difficult in case of an error. Tracing the mistake in the process and accountability will often be impossible, leading to rework. This, in turn, will cause delays throughout the process.
Storing and retrieval problems
When manually creating documents for export purposes, you will make copies and store them in a particular location. This can pose problems when you want to retrieve and use them as references or for arbitration. Tracking and sharing the documents with the relevant person is expensive and time-consuming.
Data protection, security, and access challenges
Manual documentation offers no built-in protection against unauthorized usage, theft, misuse, or loss. People with access to the location can access the documents, and you will need to depend on them to guard the data. Once again, timely access to physical documents at other locations will become challenging.
How do we overcome the challenges of manual documentation?
The good news? Digitization can eliminate these challenges. LeRemitt’s intelligent documentation platform transforms how exporters manage paperwork, offering security, efficiency, and transparency. Here are some of our solution's main benefits.
1. Simple onboarding: Onboarding on our platform is quick and easy. To get access, you need to follow the intuitive process defined by our platform and provide basic business details.
2. Secure and smart: Our platform encrypts documents to ensure security, and you can control access through a one-time password. The platform will parse the document and store the details that you can use for later purposes.
3. Reporting in EDPMS: You can share documents with banks in a controlled manner to meet the Export Data Processing and Monitoring System reporting requirements.
4. Easy access and control: With our platform, you can access or retrieve documents with a few simple steps. It also enables the trail of the latest person accessing the documents, enhancing accountability and security.
5. Stakeholder collaboration: The platform helps you collaborate better with all the business stakeholders with the easy flow of updated documentation as and when required
Ready to streamline your export documentation process? Discover how LeRemitt can simplify your operations, save time, and enhance collaboration. Contact us today to learn more and schedule a demo.
