Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Bottom Line: The GTM software market is in constant flux, but the risk-mitigation benefits
provided from the vendors are unmistakable.
Global trade management is the processes and technologies used to support the unique logistical, regulatory, and financial aspects of the import and export
processes. Constituents can include carriers, freightforwards, customs brokers, and shippers.
what of a misnomer. With the United States responsible for a large percentage of overall global trade, a
majority of the customers of GTM software come from
the United States. As such, it follows that most software
vendors concentrate on this market for sales, and its
typically reflected in the types of content they provide
and regulations they support.
A second reason for a high level of focus on the United
States is because the United States has some of the
more stringent import/export regulations found in the
world. You dont need compliance software for a country that doesnt have compliance laws. The European
Union follows second and is currently working on
additional legislation. Lots of other countries model the
U.S. or EU laws when drafting their own regulations,
when they exist at all. Among the references provided
for this Report, there were not many examples of companies whose business is conducted 100% outside the
United States.
A third reason for this focus is because the United
States and the European Union are where a lot of these
software vendors got their start (partly because of the
second reason listed above), so it only makes sense they
would start on their home markets.
Table 1: GTM license and subscription revenue and share by application segment, 2007-2008
Revenue
Share,
2008
Growth
Rate,
2007-2008
Revenue,
2008 ($M)
74
79
3%
3%
6%
Transportation Management
272
276
11%
11%
2%
2469
2535
100%
100%
3%
Application Segment
Global Trade Management
Revenue
Share,
2007
Revenue,
2007 ($M)
North
America
South
America
EMEA
Asia-Pacific
Number of
languages
Descartes
73%
5%
20%
2%
GT Nexus
60%
5%
25%
10%
Integration Point
70%
10%
15%
5%
22
Kewill
31%
0%
60%
9%
Management Dynamics *
70%
5%
20%
5%
Oracle *
60%
5%
30%
5%
12
Precision Software
42%
2%
49%
7%
QuestaWeb
50%
10%
5%
35%
SAP *
54%
2%
42%
2%
24
TradeBeam *
50%
2%
10%
38%
2 / 11**
The functionality
Vendor comparisons
When analyzing the different vendor products, we
considered three main components: functionality, references, and viability. The Logistics and Compliance areas
of the functionality make up half the score, as these
two areas are the most widely adopted and asked-about
areas of GTM. The Finance area of the functionality,
along with the references and viability scores, make up
the other half.
Vendor
Multimode
Supported
Multimode
Planning
Execution
Management
Supply Chain
Visibility
and Event
Management
Descartes
GT Nexus
Integration Point
Kewill
Management Dynamics
Oracle
Precision Software
QuestaWeb
SAP
TradeBeam
Advanced: Advanced functionality and demonstrated through product demos or compelling case studies. Used by majority of customers.
Leading GTM vendors maintain a highly knowledgeable staff that monitors the regulatory agencies and
publications for a variety of countries and encodes
them in their data sources. Because much of the regula-
Vendor
Content
Management
Product
Classification
Customs
Documentation
Electronic
Communication
Security
Requirements
Descartes
GT Nexus
Integration Point
Kewill
Management Dynamics
Oracle
Precision Software
QuestaWeb
SAP
TradeBeam
Advanced: Advanced functionality and demonstrated through product demos or compelling case studies. Used by majority of customers.
Vendor
Duty
Drawbacks
Letter
of
Credit
Trade
Finance
Tariff
Mgmt.
Landed
Cost
Insurance
Dispute
Mgmt.
Settlement
Descartes
GT Nexus
Integration Point
Kewill
Management Dynamics
Oracle
Precision Software
QuestaWeb
SAP
TradeBeam
Advanced: Advanced functionality and demonstrated through product demos or compelling case studies. Used by majority of customers.
50
40
30
20
10
Descartes
GT
Nexus
Integration
Point
Compliance
References
Logistics
Finance
Precision
Software
QuestaWeb
SAP
TradeBeam
Viability
Recommendations
Globalization has brought benefits to the world
economy by expanding the choices companies have in
building their supply networks. It has also brought new
degrees of risk to business at many levels. In the area of
global trade management, managing the risk has fallen
on supply chain, logistics, compliance, and financial
professionals. A typically outsourced process has started
to come in-house, and the software market is growing,
expanding, and evolving to meet these needs.
Appendices
Appendix A: Vendor profiles
Descartes
Descartes offers SaaS logistics technology products that
allow trading partners, including ground carriers, airlines, ocean carriers, freight forwarders, 3PLs, customs
brokers, and shippers, to come to a common portal to
share information and make and receive shipments. The
applications support bookings, document exchange,
regulatory compliance, route and resource planning,
execution management, rate management, and more.
The company added about 700 members to its network with the acquisition of Oceanwide in February
2009, which focuses on customs brokers and insurance
underwriters.
Strengths
Particularly strong in cross-border movement from
Canada or Mexico to the United States and vice versa,
as well as support for multiple-leg journeys. Its SaaSbased network model is another key differentiator.
Opportunities
With the acquisition of Oceanwide, Descartes will
need to work on more seamless hand-offs between
applications.
Company and product information
Headquarters: Waterloo, Ontario
Founded: 1981
Employees: 450+
Product: Descartes Editrade Customs Filing and
Compliance Services
GTM customers: 5,000+
Technology platform: .NET
Primary delivery model: SaaS or licensed
10
GT Nexus
GT Nexus provides a web-based portal for shippers,
3PLs, carriers, forwarders, brokers, and banks to track
ocean and air freight, rate requests, bookings, contracts,
orders, production events, documents, and costs. The
application also helps shippers manage ocean and air
transportation spend.
Strengths
GT Nexus is quickly becoming a standard for ocean
carriers. It can provide visibility into many of the details
of shipments that make calculating total landed costs
easier. The company is actively courting banks as well
to make the securing and managing of letters of credit
and open account information easier. The companys
SaaS-based hub model is a key differentiator. The user
interface is clean and easy to follow.
Opportunities
GT Nexus can support the filing of the required
documents for ocean and air shipments, but it relies
on partners for more detailed compliance screening.
The company has a robust portal, but if it wanted to
expand, compliance content management could be an
area for future development or acquisition.
Company and product information
Headquarters: Oakland, CA
Founded: 1998
Employees: 240
Product: GT Nexus Trade and Logistics Portal
GTM customers: 120
Technology platform: Java
Primary delivery model: SaaS
Integration Point
Kewill
Integration Point has built its trade compliance functionality from the ground up. It covers all the major
areas, including but not limited to denied-party screening, product classification, customs documentation,
and electronic submissions.
Strengths
One of the leaders for compliance functionality,
Integration Point is a content provider to other vendors. The company has an internal content team that
updates trade agreements and regulations. The software
has support for free trade zones, which is a differentiator, as few companies that can offer this support.
Opportunities
By design, the company has focused on the compliance
aspects of global trade. It does not offer much support
for logistics beyond the generation of required documents and visibility into shipments.
Company and product information
Headquarters: Charlotte, NC
Founded: 2002
Employees: 90
Product: Integration Point Global Trade
Management Suite
GTM customers: 140
Technology platform: .NET
Primary delivery model: SaaS
Strengths
Kewill is a good choice for companies looking for
GTM software with robust logistics support as well as
compliance functionality. The company maintains a
content team responsible for updating trade agreements
and classifications.
Opportunities
Kewill should look at developing more functionality for
the financial supply chain to round out its logistics and
compliance support. Additionally, the company will
need to consolidate its acquisitions, products, and user
interfaces.
Company and product information
Headquarters: Guilford, UK
Founded: 1972
Employees: 660
Product: Kewill Global Trade Management Suite
GTM customers: 3,000
Technology platform: Java
Primary delivery model: Licensed or hosted
11
Management Dynamics
Oracle
Management Dynamics has some of the broadest functionality for global trade management. The company
has grown well past its roots of international transportation management into a broad GTM suite for corporations and logistics providers, encompassing import
and export compliance, trade agreement management,
supply chain visibility, and integrated trade content
for classification, denied-party screening, regulatory
controls, and documentation.
Strengths
Management Dynamics offers a broad suite of GTM
functionality and can be considered for most aspects
of global trade. It is also one of the leaders in compliance. With one of the largest content teams, the
company can monitor and update free-trade agreements, harmonization codes, and other regulations. The
Management Dynamics dashboard, which is based on
BusinessObjects, offers one of the best dashboards for
visibility into logistics and compliance.
Opportunities
The company has been growing at a rapid pace in terms
of new functionality and new customers. Maintaining
that momentum has the potential to be a challenge,
albeit a good one.
Company and product information
Headquarters: East Rutherford, NJ
Founded: 1990
Employees: 280
Product: Trade Automation 14.5, RPS On-Demand
5.1, Export On-Demand 1.1, Trade Wizards 10.0,
Trade Planner 9.0, Supply Chain Visibility 11.0,
Transportation Management 11.1, Supplier Portal
2.0, Performance Management 1.1
GTM customers: 300+
Technology platform: J2EE
Primary delivery model: Licensed or hosted
12
Strengths
Oracle Transportation Management contains some of
the best support for global logistics among transportation management systems, providing transportation
management, regulatory compliance, financial management, and procurement functionality for all modes. It
also has good multi-language and currency support.
Opportunities
The compliance portions of the suite are currently in
beta and will be generally available in calendar year
2009.
Company and product information
Headquarters: Redwood Shores, CA
Founded: 1977
Employees: 85,562
Product: Oracle GTM, Oracle Transportation
Management
GTM customers: n/a
Technology platform: J2EE
Primary delivery model: Licensed or hosted
QuestaWeb
Strengths
Strengths
QuestaWeb has deep process knowledge and a longstanding and loyal customer base. The company offers
a modular, yet integrated product platform with broad
support for logistics and compliance requirements.
Opportunities
Opportunities
13
SAP
TradeBeam
Strengths
The company has one of the largest customer bases for
GTM software, and the application includes certified
customs interfaces for more than 24 customs systems
in 13 countries to support NCTS, US ABI, and import
and export clearance. SAP GTS features one of the best
dashboards available, providing visibility from the executive all the way down to the transactional level. The
Customs Warehouse functionality is a unique approach
to duty drawbacks and free-trade-zone support. The
product has good multilanguage and currency support.
Opportunities
SAP should consider additional deployment options
that address the growing acceptance of SaaS in global
trade management.
Company and product information
Headquarters: Walldorf, Germany
Founded: 1972
Employees: 51,000+
Product: SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade
Services (SAP GTS), SAP SCM
GTM customers: 500+
Technology platform: SAP NetWeaver
Primary delivery model: On-premises or hosted
14
Strengths
The company maintains a content team and is one of
the leaders of trade compliance software. Additionally,
the company has some of the broadest functionality
for trade financing. TradeBeam offers managed services
for product classifications (on a per-project or ongoing
basis) and letters of credit management. The i-Supply
product is an intriguing part of the GTM solution.
The company also has a strategic partnership with the
CIECC (Chinas IT arm of administrative commerce)
for GTM solutions for importers and exporters.
Opportunities
The company should continue to develop the logistics
support to complement its strong compliance and
financial functionality.
Company and product information
Headquarters: San Mateo, CA
Founded: 1999
Employees: 150
Product: GTM v3.4, i-Supply v7.4
GTM customers: 3,000+
Technology platform: J2EE
Primary delivery model: SaaS
15