Customs-X
Bespoke Platform Build for Customs Services Specialist
A leading specialist in customs services and consultancy for the import and export trade wanted to digitise customs declarations for a more straightforward, convenient customer experience. Key Element was hired to design and build a bespoke platform from scratch, and then provide ongoing operational support.- Web Development
- Managed Hosting
- Graphic Design
- Illustration
Who is the client?
Customs-X specialises in helping import, export and logistics businesses navigate customs requirements in as smooth and efficient a manner as possible. With services covering customs clearance, duty and trade management (including post-Brexit arrangements in the UK), compliance and training, the firm’s team of dedicated professionals provide tailored solutions to every client.
Regardless of shipment volumes, types or scale, Customs-X sets out to keep goods moving, rationalise costs, and ensure clients are fully compliant with all relevant authorities.
What services did we provide?
What was their challenge?
For convenience and ease of use, Customs-X wanted a platform that would provide their customers with a single pane of glass solution, allowing them to file declarations, check on progress and processing status in real time, and provide an overview of all shipments, live and historic.
The company also wanted to provide multiple options for how declarations could be made. As well as giving customers the choice of manually uploading relevant documentation through the platform, they requested a business-to-client EDI feed that would be able to pull in the necessary information from customers’ own systems and automate the declarations process.
Alongside these UX requests, Customs-X requested that the platform include a dedicated management portal where staff could manage and process declarations, including the ability to send documents back to the customer. This portal was also to include a business intelligence dashboard providing real-time status updates on all live declarations, plus performance metrics.
How did we approach it?
Given the number of different stakeholders who would have an interest in the functioning of this platform, we built the project around in-depth and on-going consultation with all relevant parties – Customs-X and their clients, plus HMRC and other customs authorities.
Our development team worked hand-in-hand with the Customs-X team to gain an in-depth understanding of their existing manual processes so we could effectively design the transition to digital while addressing the challenges and opportunities they faced in moving to a new system.
We also ran a pilot of the platform in collaboration with a select group of customers. The findings and feedback we got from this were invaluable in helping us to further develop and refine the platform ahead of full launch, as well as informing our ongoing support plan.
Were there any obstacles?
How did we go above and beyond?
What was the end result?
As a result, no sooner had the pilot and trial phase been successfully completed, Customs-X secured a major contract with a €4 billion turnover client just four weeks after launch.
Lets talk
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