Original Source: Logistics Veiwpoints
“Earlier this month, I participated in the CONECT 12th Annual Northeast Cargo Symposium where I gave a talk on Hours of Service and shared some words of advice with CONECT’s Young Professionals group, which had their own session at the conference. During that session, a young professional from a medical device company gave a great presentation about free trade agreements — what they are, why they are important, and how to use them effectively as part of your global trade operations.
During the Q&A session afterwards, a young professional seated next to me asked the presenter if she was using any type of software at her company to manage free trade agreements. “No, we use Excel,” she said. “We bring in attorneys and trade experts to help us understand the regulations and develop the formulas, and we just enter everything into Excel. I wish we had some software designed specifically for trade, but it’s not something our company has decided to invest in yet.”
The young professional who asked the question, who works at a leading toy company, replied back, “Yeah, we use Excel too.”
So, here you have two leading companies in their respective industries, managing a highly strategic and risky supply chain process, with Excel spreadsheets.
Why?
Part of the answer, I believe, is that some companies still view certain aspects of supply chain and logistics as “cost centers” and, therefore, rank them low on the IT priority list. Historically, trade compliance has fallen in this category, with some companies viewing it as simply paperwork. This “cost center” perception was certainly more prevalent 10-15 years ago, but it persists at some companies today, regardless of size…”
Contributors: Open Source
Categories: Industry Articles, SIG U Resource
SRC Type: Benchmarking and Analysis, eSourcing and Tools, Procurement Operations