One of ICA’s partners is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Transport & Logistics and runs the Supply Chain & Logistics ICT
practice group, With a background of some 20 years in Informational Technology solutions and eCommerce both overseas and in Australia
in the Freight Logistics and Supply Chain sector with organisations such as Unilever, P&O and the Port of Melbourne Authority, our ICA
Supply Chain & Logistics partner leads a specialist team of consultants with systems and business process re-engineering expertise in:
• Port & Stevedore Operations
• Container Management
• Trade & Transport eCommerce
• UN/EDIFACT and ebXML based eCommerce
• Hazardous Cargo Management
• Single Window Systems based on the UN/ECE recommendations
• Port Community Systems
The United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) has suggested, among other things, four avenues
for enhancing trade community systems:
• replacement of manual data entry with automation
• single window opportunities
• sharing data and avoiding duplication
• going paperless using UN/EDIFACT messages
Another guiding avenue for development of ICT systems is the real-time tracking of freight in the supply chain which is not only
becoming increasingly important for logistics but also for security.
ICA Supply Chain & logistics group specialises in delivering solutions to achieve this aim.
Key challenges facing the Supply Chain & Logistics sectors include:
1. the need to conduct ongoing re-prioritisation of developments to fill the electronic gaps, whilst achieving industry’s commitment
to ICT developments and adoption that will produce widespread interoperability and e-commerce benefits for all parties in the supply
chain.
2. the need to develop:
• new ICT systems to complement the existing core systems
• public ICT infrastructure to improve interconnectivity and interoperability so as to increase the uptake of e-commerce, especially
by SMEs.
3. the need to encourage SMEs in particular, to take advantage of the cost and time savings associated with electronic transactions
by facilitating easy and equitable access to the core systems such as, in dome cases government sponsorship may be needed for
technology applications that are in the public interest but cannot be afforded by individual companies in the supply chain.
4. the need to provide appropriate governance to the trade community through:
• the advocacy of Government policy and principles
• endorsement of open standards
• encouragement of companies to adopt standards such as ebXML for inter-company communications
• to support of industry (self-)regulatory bodies.
