In an industry heavily focused on documentation processing, the past was based on paper, according to Peter Krafft.
They may have been computer produced, he said, but they were physically there and still imposed such needs as messenger/courier delivery and collection. But the future is one of EIT (electronic information transfer). We will be part of electronic information receipt; electronic modification for subsequent functions; electronic transfer to service providers (road, rail, air, sea, networking partners worldwide); electronic entry (to customs, SA Reserve Bank etc.); electronic tracking and monitoring; and electronic report-back to consignor/consignee. EIT is not merely E-mail, Krafft added. E-mail retrieval is at the discretion of the mailbox holder - once a day, once a week, or whenever.
But, he said, EIT ideally requires real-time, continuous interaction. There are, therefore, three questions which you must find answers for: l How to ensure immediate reaction - and necessary action; l How to ensure that delivery of messages is not thwarted by message congestion at receiving end; l How to train staff in UNEDIFACT messaging. As the overall answer, Krafft uses a soccer allusion. The vision is to net the ball, not to bounce it off the goal posts, he said.
