The Modernising Customs Operations whitepaper explores how customs teams are responding to rising regulatory pressure, growing data demands, and increased scrutiny from customs authorities and senior management. Many teams feel stretched, while expectations continue to rise. Modernisation therefore has a clear purpose: reduce effort, prevent errors, and improve outcomes without adding capacity.
The paper draws on insights from our virtual roundtable and webinar where attendees benchmarked their customs maturity through a self-assessment across People, Process, Data, Technology, and Governance. The results show a consistent pattern. Despite defined roles and procedures, daily work still relies heavily on manual steps, fragmented data, rekeying between portals, and strong broker dependency. This leads to avoidable errors, delays, and limited visibility.
The whitepaper explains how customs automation addresses these structural issues. It standardises execution, embeds validation checks, improves data quality before filing, and creates full traceability. With clearance times in Europe often averaging two to three days and preventable errors causing many delays, there is significant room for improvement through customs automation.
It also highlights the business case. Automation reduces customs management costs, lowers broker fees, and eliminates repetitive data entry. In-house control supported by ERP integration shortens release times and reduces dependency on external parties. More accurate declarations and structured use of Special Procedures minimise duty exposure, while strong data foundations support audit readiness and compliance. The result is lower cost, faster flows, and full control over customs operations.
In short, this whitepaper covers:
