Ongoing developments in information technology are forcing companies to rethink their strategies to remain competitive. Whereas IT expenditure had traditionally been considered a grudge expenditure for many freight companies, in particular the medium to smaller companies, it had in recent years become a defining aspect of their business, said J-L Koekemoer, general manager of Ship-Shape Software. “The commoditisation of technology in this industry has spawned niche applications, with a continuous shift towards customer self-service and automation. This is achieved via well-defined and granular integration points as well as online portals and mobile applications,” he told FTW. Koekemoer said software companies were also under pressure to continuously evolve, making incremental improvements and optimisations. “The world around us never stops changing and technology in particular is changing at a rapid pace. Which is why
we constantly evaluate new developments and requirements in the industry,” he said. “One of the hardest challenges in an ever-changing technology industry is to separate fact from fiction; each industry has its overhyped buzzwords of the day and the challenge is to identify those areas that can make a material difference to our customers and their customers right here and now as well as in the near future, whilst still keeping an eye on other areas that may need a bit more time to demonstrate practical benefits in the medium or long term.” He said key areas of focus
at present were increased automation and integration. “In the past year or two we have completed some impressive automation projects which take bonded warehouse processing to a new level, including realtime on-line tracking of permits, PRCCs and warehouse balances,” he said. “Arguably one of our most important areas of development is working with the South African Revenue Service (Sars) to support the gradual implementation of the various phases of the New Customs Act Programme (NCAP).” This process, said Koekemoer, had started in
earnest a year or two ago and would continue for the next few years during which time Sars would be
traversing a sequence of milestones to phase out the old Customs and Excise Act of 1964 and replace it with the newer Customs Control Act and Customs Duty Act. “Whilst this in itself is not anything new (the new Acts were gazetted almost five years ago), there will be a significantly increased reliance on software systems to support many aspects of the new Acts. This is a great example of the legal framework necessitating the use of systems which are proven to be compliant with the many rules attached to the Acts,” he said.
One of our most important areas of development is working with Sars to support the gradual implementation of NCAP. – J-L Koekemoer
