A new research study, "Global Trade Compliance Priorities in 2008," examines trade compliance practices and strategic initiatives of 340 global exporters and importers. The report, announced by Aberdeen reveals that 74% of all companies (and 94% of the Best-in-Class) are currently in the process of improving their global trade compliance practices, with an additional 21% planning to begin improvements in 2008.

Viktoriya Sadlovska, a research analyst at Aberdeen who authored the report, notes that, "In the past 5 years, significant changes have begun to occur in the way global companies handle trade compliance: as our study shows, global trade compliance is now being transformed from a back-office, often neglected, function, to being the focus of strategic corporate-wide initiatives." The key organizational strategies to support these initiatives include instituting a centralized organization to manage global trade compliance, securing executive management's support and the increased role of trade compliance departments. The Best-in-Class trade compliance departments prove to be more effective in attracting executive attention to their compliance transformation initiatives.

Best-in-Class companies in this study (compared to Laggards) are, among other strategies:

1. About 50% more likely to have the ability to access timely information on the latest trade regulations updates (e.g. restricted--denied parties)
2. 80% more likely to centralize global trade compliance at the enterprise level and 57% more likely to involve executive management in global trade compliance initiatives
3. Almost 80% more likely to have automated communication--document exchange with forwarders--3PLs
4. Three times as likely to use automated analytics tools for export--import transactions (reports, statistics, scenario analysis, etc.)

Enhanced process visibility, better access to trade regulations data, centralized trade compliance organization, executive management support, streamlined processes and the introduction of certain technologies all contribute to improved performance. As a result, Best-in-Class companies in this study are twice as likely as Industry Average and 4.7 times as likely as Laggards to have decreased the number of supply chain disruptions due to trade compliance errors over the past year. This helps Best-in-Class companies to both make their global supply chains more secure and improve their business reputation.

To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com