The Eighth Annual Compliance Conference, hosted by AEB in partnership with the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport (UK) in October 2017, revealed insights from business leaders across 10 industry sectors in an industry survey on the risks, challenges, and opportunities in global trade under Brexit developments. Survey findings deliver valuable benchmarks for traders and a call for urgent action. The new report from AEB also includes a global trade action plan template with useful checkpoints of preparation that every business needs to have on screen. The report can be downloaded free of charge at www.aeb.com/uk/media/uk-brexit-conference-results-2017.php
Delegates consider “No access to the EU single market” their current biggest risk in global trade – cited by 62 per cent of respondents. This assessment reflects a four per cent decrease to the 2016 survey results where this risk was ranked second by delegates with 66 per cent. The delegates’ assessment of greatest risks in the year-on-year comparison indicates both that work has begun to consider alternative sourcing options and that businesses see little progress on the side of Brexit negotiations, which is further confirmed by the latest report from the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) in November 2017.
In the area of global trade challenges, 45 per cent of delegates ranked “Managing increasing complexity and pressure” highest. This reflects the same top challenge as last year, but with a five per cent decrease from 50 per cent in 2016, despite increasing complexity and pressures driven by, e.g., e-commerce, increasing customer expectations, and digitisation challenges.
When it comes to the key areas of opportunity and investment, delegates consider implementing appropriate tools a top priority. This is very much in line with both digitisation challenges and the drastic skills shortage the global trade and supply chain management sector is facing. It also indicates increasing awareness of the urgency and importance of the right level of automation, integration, and flexibility to ensure competitiveness and business contingency in dynamic markets subject to uncertainty.
The Annual Compliance Conference took place on October 11. Titled ‘Hands-on now: The Global Trade 2-Year Plan of Attack for Traders’, the conference was organised by AEB (International), a provider of supply chain logistics software, consultancy, and services, in partnership with the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport (CILTUK). The agenda featured latest regulatory updates, industry perspectives on corporate compliance on a global scale, and practical examples of Brexit impacts and risks as well as mitigation measures.
The conference was attended by over 60 industry delegates from 10 industry sectors, including aerospace & defence, automotive, consumer goods, food & beverage, high-tech & electronics, machinery & engineering, pharmaceuticals & chemicals, retail, and transport & logistics.
Geoff Taylor, managing director of AEB (International), said: “Ongoing developments under Brexit and the HMRC system transition from CHIEF to CDS continue to highlight the urgency to modernise global trade processes. And while traders’ awareness for the urgency and involved challenges is increasing, latest reports also show that not enough businesses have started to prepare their business operations.”
AEB’s next event takes place in March 2018 and will focus on customs and compliance solutions to automate and integrate relevant processes and achieve the much-needed flexibility to succeed in a competitive business landscape subject to dynamic changes. Pre-registration is now open online: www.aeb.com/uk
