Understanding regulations and communication skills are key to success in international trade, say supply chain professionals

Understanding rules, logistical planning and communication skills are vital for businesses trading internationally, supply chain professionals have said.

At a webinar hosted by the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade yesterday (11 September) on ‘trade skills’, 58% of attendees said ‘interpreting legislation’ was the most important skill for a supply chain role, in response to a live poll.

This was followed by logistical planning (28%) and product knowledge (14%). All of these skills were included in a paper launched by the Chartered Institute at the webinar on ‘Seven Skills for Success in Global Trade’.

Navigating regulation

The panel of supply chain professionals speaking on the webinar agreed that understanding rules and logistical planning were key for trade success, adding that communication was also an important skill.

“Understanding rules prevents a lot of delays,” said Lyndsay Hogg MCIEx, the founder of the King’s Award-winning company Hogg Logistics. “There are so many different rules that you’ve got to be aware of that can cause delays or problems.”

Richard Williams, a logistics and admin manager at Concrete Canvas, which exports to over 100 countries, said that Brexit had also increased the importance of understanding rules for trade.

Up-to-date knowledge

He said that completing training courses with the Chartered Institute had been “really beneficial” in ensuring he and his colleagues were “up-to-date with all the latest legislation and documents required for the countries we export to”.

“You don’t want to be in a situation where your documents are holding up your consignments, because your customers are going to be unhappy and the chances of them coming back to you, to order more products, becomes pretty slim.

“So, we as a team made the decision to make sure that, where there were courses available, we attended them.”

Hogg agreed that training courses and qualifications with the Chartered Institute gave her peace of mind around trade compliance.

“We needed reassurance,” Hogg said. “You’re second guessing the information until you’ve had it confirmed by the experts.”

Hogg noted that she had taken around 30 courses with the Chartered Institute and one qualification:

“I did lean on the Institute a lot, which is why I took so many courses, to make sure my knowledge was up to date.”

Communication and planning

Communication was also mentioned as a key skill for supply chain professionals.

“Communication is vitally important,” said Williams.

“Planning is also key. Consider, for example, that if you are importing goods via sea, there are going to be delays. There’s no doubt about it. You’ve got to factor that into your planning.”

Education is key

Sandra Cooper, a trade and customs specialist at the Chartered Institute, said that it was important that businesses gained the skills to trade compliantly in order to make the most of the growth opportunities international markets create.

“Trading internationally is not as straight forward as domestic trade,” she said.

“Companies need to equip themselves with the required skills and knowledge to grow new markets in a compliant manner.”

She added that the upside of investing in these trade skills was “enhanced growth” opportunities from new customers, creating “economies of scale”, allowing businesses to “diversify revenue streams” and to develop a global brand.

Apprenticeships

Steve Horrell, an apprenticeship success delivery manager at the Chartered Institute, noted that companies could gain trade skills through apprenticeships.

For companies paying into the apprenticeship levy – which includes any business with a payroll over £3m per annum – he said apprenticeships are effectively an opportunity for businesses to “take free training.”

“There’s a lot of opportunities for companies to take free training. They’ve already paid for this. Rather than pay it back, it’s worthwhile using the apprenticeships.”

For those not paying into the levy, he said that there is still an opportunity to get significantly funded training through the co-investment model run by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA).

“The ESFA will fund 95% of the costs of a qualification, leaving only a 5% residual fee to the employer.

“For example, IOEx Ltd – the Chartered Institute’s apprenticeship division – delivers the International Freight Forwarding Specialist Apprenticeship at Level 3. The maximum funding band for that is £9k.

“If you are a business that doesn’t pay in to the levy because your payroll is under £3m, you would pay only 5%. So, the cost of the training would be only £450.

“There are no hidden costs, no extras on top of that. So, you’re getting 95% of that qualification paid for.”

He said the benefits of doing apprenticeships are “profound” for a company, adding that anyone of any age can undertake them.

“One of the key misunderstandings with apprenticeships is the word itself.

“There’s an assumption that it’s only available to school leavers but there is no upper age limit to apprenticeships. The oldest person we’ve enrolled on an apprenticeship is 62 years old!”

You can watch the recording of yesterday’s webinar on our YouTube channel and download the ‘Seven Skills for Success in Global Trade’ report here.