Digitalization has been a topic at Gaston Schul for a long time: The renowned full-service customs service provider had already been using specialized software solutions in the past for processes between order entry and billing, but these were not networked with each other. The missing interfaces led to duplicate data entry, lack of transparency, media breaks, and time-consuming coordination needs. In addition, there were high costs for printing and sending documents and their archiving.
Against this background, the traditional family business decided to switch systems in February 2021: They were looking for an integrated IT solution that could map all the activities of a full-service customs service provider and guide around 130 users step by step through the individual processes – up to paperless archiving.
“The Fiduz transport management system from dbh offers us all the functions we need in our daily work. With this standard solution, we were able to fully digitalize our customs clearance processes and thus create maximum transparency.”
Yorick Peters, Procurist at Gaston Schul Customs GmbH and responsible for the software changeover
Between project start and go-live on July 1st, just under four months passed. “It was an intensive time, but the collaboration with our contacts at dbh worked very well,” recalls Peters. Training for the user-friendly software took place mainly in May. For further questions, key users in each team have been available since then to explain how to operate the software to colleagues in several branches within their respective areas of responsibility.
Consistent digitalization and paperless operations
Consistent digitalization and largely eliminating paper enables the customs declarants at Gaston Schul to work in new and more modern ways. Now each of the approximately 30,000 transactions per month can be handled end-to-end by one colleague and electronically archived at the end. “The time savings are enormous, which was urgently needed given the shortage of skilled workers and increasing order intake,” admits Peters.
With clearly structured processes, Fiduz contributes significantly to better managing the increasing workload: For each transaction, a digital dossier is first created with all necessary order data. Fiduz then automatically accesses this data when creating the required documents – regardless of whether it is bills of lading, transit documents, port registrations, supplementary customs declarations, or subsequent invoicing. “For billing, we still have a separate department, but with Fiduz we will gradually convert our processing,” plans Peters, who wants to simplify administrative work as much as possible for his colleagues. “Our customs declarants should advise customers and use their expertise instead of filling out forms,” is his motto.
Invoicing in 30 to 60 seconds
Fiduz alone provides significant relief when invoicing: Invoices are now created immediately after transaction processing at the push of a button and sent to customers as a PDF document via email.
Today there are only a few paper documents at Gaston Schul. One example is CIM bills of lading, which by law still need to be stamped in the original and personally accepted. But overall, the effort for printing, copying, and sending has been significantly reduced. “Previously, we had to send documents back and forth between our branches in packages,” reports Peters. The minimized costs alone for toner, paper, and postage account for a large part of Fiduz’s amortization. In addition, there is the time saved, which can now be used productively.
Minimizing financial risks
Another major advantage of end-to-end digitalization is the high transparency over all ongoing and completed transactions. “Unlike before, no process steps can be forgotten at our company now. We can see at a glance which processes are still open,” reports Peters. This has further increased the quality of work while minimizing financial risks. After all, Gaston Schul as the holder of authorization in the dispatch procedure is liable for the import sales tax, which amounts to several million euros per month. “Uncompleted orders can be costly for us,” emphasizes Peters.
But Gaston Schul is also now well protected against other risks: “If we experience another lockdown, our employees can work from home without any additional effort,” says Peters. This freedom is based on the fact that Fiduz is hosted as a cloud solution in the Bremen data center of dbh Logistics IT AG. Work is therefore location-independent with any browser. Monthly billing is based on the volume of data transferred and the number of transactions processed. If this continues to increase, Gaston Schul doesn’t need to worry about storage expansions – the cloud solution is easily scalable at any time.
Conclusion
With the Fiduz transport management system, Gaston Schul has fully digitalized, significantly simplified, and accelerated its processes while increasing quality. The new software enables further growth and error-free work in a transparent, modern environment. It is quite possible that the full-service customs service provider will soon introduce the solution in its offices outside Germany.