A pilot involving 20 companies from across the global supply chain revealed important insights into where organizations excel, where they lag, and why digital trade capability maturity is a key driver of both operational efficiency and security
By Craig Moss and Vivek Ghelani
In the complex web of international trade, operational and systemic friction is often hidden in plain sight—trapped in paper bills of lading, commercial invoices, and certificates of origin, as well as the manual data entry processes and siloed communication channels that slow customs clearance and payments. At its core, international trade is an intricate web of separate companies operating across different global jurisdictions. Because manufacturers, logistics providers, and financial institutions rarely share the same internal networks, trust is the critical currency that makes trade possible.
While discussions about digitizing global trade workflows often focus on operational efficiency and cost reduction, the real value of digitalization goes much deeper. It is a structural upgrade that not only eliminates manual processes and reduces risks like data loss and cyber-attacks, but also generates verified data that can be used to prevent fraud and unlock strategic insights about the supply chain and its partners.
Companies must develop entirely new capabilities and skills to transition to a purely digital workflow. But these skills cannot be developed in isolation; they must be built in harmony with every partner in a given trade flow. Manufacturers, logistics providers, and financial institutions must collectively identify and develop the necessary capabilities to enable digital trade and build trust. Yet, historically, companies required guidance on the new capabilities needed. Even if they had some sense of their own internal capabilities, they had no consistent, structured way to evaluate the maturity of the supply chain partners they rely on.
To provide companies with a common yardstick to measure these capabilities and a clear roadmap for improvement, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) developed a Digital Trade Readiness Assessment in partnership with the Digital Supply Chain Institute (DSCI), British Standards Institution (BSI), the Digital Governance Council (DGC) and others. The assessment is a vital component of the ICC’s broader Digital Standards Initiative — a global, collaborative effort launched to accelerate the transition of international trade from paper-based processes to a fully digital ecosystem. The Initiative focuses on aligning standards across the supply chain, finance, and legal sectors to ensure different digital systems can seamlessly communicate and share data.
Pamela Mar, Managing Director of the ICC Digital Standards Initiative, explains:
“By fostering collective trust and interoperability among businesses and governments, the initiative aims to remove operational friction and drive faster, safer global trade. We found that companies needed a unified way to measure their skills and capabilities, so we developed the Digital Trade Readiness Assessment with our partners. We used a maturity model to provide companies with a clear picture of their current state—as well as that of their trade partners—and to provide targeted guidance on high-priority areas for improvement.”
A pilot involving 20 companies across the global supply chain revealed critical insights into where organizations excel, where they lag, and why digital trade capability maturity is a key driver of both operational efficiency and security.
The Structure of the Digital Trade Readiness Assessment
Before diving into the results, it is essential to understand how digital readiness was measured. The ICC-DSCI assessment was engineered to evaluate organizations holistically, moving beyond simple software adoption to measure true operational integration.
The assessment evaluates organizations across three core categories; each measured on a three-level maturity scale:
- Management Systems
- Data Management & Protection
- Cybersecurity
The participants completed a digital trade readiness self-assessment. Follow-up calls were conducted with approximately half of the participants to discuss their results and gain insight into how they viewed the process and results.
Key Insights by Category: The Maturity Benchmark
Twenty geographically dispersed companies representing the finance/banking, logistics, and manufacturing sectors participated in the pilot. Although the sample size was limited, the findings provide valuable directional insights. Across the 20 participating companies, the average overall maturity score was 1.8 out of 3.0. When broken down by category, the variance becomes clear:
- Assessment Category Average Score (Out of 3.0) Current State Analysis
- Cybersecurity 2.2 Approaching Level 3 on basics like password policies, but weaker on comprehensive incident response.
- Data Management 1.8 Solid Level 2 in some areas (e.g., security controls), but held back by inconsistent data standards and governance.
- Management Systems 1.5 Level 1. A lack of executive commitment, dedicated budgeting, and integrated strategic planning holds back overall maturity.
These findings highlight a critical reality: while companies are implementing specific technical controls for their data and networks, the overarching management systems required to drive true transformation are lagging. As a result, digital trade readiness often falls into a gap between IT teams focused on technical controls and trade documentation teams still reliant on manual, day-to-day paper workflows—instead of embedding it in the companies’ broader operations and culture. Consequently, efficiency gains such as real-time document exchange and faster cash cycles remain constrained by organizational and strategic barriers. The internal issues prevent companies from collaborating to build the shared trust needed for a digitally enabled trade flow. As one pilot participant stated, “most of our trading partners still require paper documents, so for us to aggressively push to being digital it just creates a parallel workflow and ultimately more work for us.”
Deeper-Dive: Strengths and Improvement Areas
The digital trade readiness assessment has approximately 45 questions; examining the five highest- and lowest-scoring questions shines a light on what is needed.
The five highest-scoring questions reveal that companies are strongest where clear, tactical controls can be implemented. The data shows a solid foundation in basic cybersecurity and data security protocols.
Top 5 Highest Maturity Scores by Question
Rank Assessment Question (Paraphrased) Category Avg Score (1-3)
- Does your password policy require at least 8 characters? Cybersecurity 2.8
- Do you use encryption (HTTPS, SFTP) for transmitting sensitive data? Cybersecurity 2.7
- Are data security controls like access controls and encryption in place? Data Management 2.7
- Do you monitor regulatory changes for data protection and cybersecurity? Management Systems 2.6
- Are there processes for responding to data breaches? Data Management 2.5
Conversely, the five lowest-scoring questions reveal exactly where friction is throttling supply chain velocity. The weaknesses are overwhelmingly concentrated in strategic leadership, cross-functional alignment, and proactive, forward-looking integration. The power of maturity assessments is how they can be used to prioritize improvements.
Bottom 5 Lowest Maturity Scores by Question
Rank Assessment Question (Paraphrased) Category Avg Score (1-3)
- Is there a dedicated budget or team for digital trade implementation? Management Systems 1.1
- Is the international trade function integrated into strategic decision-making (M&A, market entry)? Management Systems 1.2
- Is there formal ownership and accountability with defined KPIs for digital trade initiatives? Management Systems 1.2
- Are trade finance triggers (e.g., Letters of Credit) automated based on digital events? Data Management 1.3
- Do you use predictive analytics to identify anomalies in trade transactions? Management Systems 1.3
Root Cause Exploration: The Strategy vs. Tactics Paradox
Why do basic password policies (score: 2.8) score highly while a dedicated budget (score: 1.1) or strategic integration (score 1.2) lag significantly? Digging into the specific question data provides a clear view of the root causes. The absence of building digital trade capabilities into corporate strategy, coupled with a lack of ownership and measurable KPIs, suggests that many organizations still view digital trade as a siloed functional activity, rather than a source of enterprise-wide value.
- The “Mandate vs. Transformation” Dynamic: Compliance and tactical cybersecurity controls score near Level 3 because they are driven by regulatory mandates and the clear danger of cyber-attacks. However, while mandates force basic compliance, they do not drive strategic transformation.
- The Value Definition Gap: Because digital trade initiatives are often treated as disconnected technical projects or confined to back-office trade documentation teams, they lack the high-level visibility needed to secure dedicated budgets. Supply chain leaders must shift the narrative to focus on accelerated working capital and frictionless operations. When business leaders recognize that more mature digital trade capabilities can speed up payments, reduce transit delays, and improve security, it shifts from a tactical initiative to a strategic priority.
The Network Effect and ROI Visibility
Leadership commitment lags heavily due to a lack of visible, near-term return on investment (ROI) when digital trade is viewed in isolation. Transitioning to Level 3 requires upfront effort, and as the “parallel workflow” trap illustrates, acting alone often feels like a penalty rather than a benefit. Supply chain leaders must reframe the ROI around the network effect—the reality that the value of digital trade increases exponentially as your trading partners also mature. It is not just about internal software costs; it is an investment in collective trust that unlocks accelerated working capital for the entire supply chain. When leaders realize that bringing their network to maturity means getting paid days or weeks faster, cross-functional budgets (currently stuck at Level 1) will follow.
Breaking Silos to Build Collective Trust
The bottom-scoring questions highlight deep organizational silos that undermine this network effect. Organizations that struggle to collaborate internally will inevitably struggle to collaborate with external partners. Leadership commitment requires a top-down strategy that forces internal departments to collaborate first. Only by breaking down internal walls can an organization effectively plug into the broader ecosystem, build collective trust with external partners, and fully activate the network effect.
A pilot participant from the banking industry commented that, “Security is essential to digital trade. The assessment was very useful in identifying areas that need improvement. It also showed us that improvement in our company will require collaboration between different divisions.”
Why This Matters: Dual-Sided Value for the Ecosystem
A mature Level 3 digital trade program simultaneously reduces risk and acts as a performance multiplier across the trade ecosystem.
For Manufacturers and Shippers: Cleaner Data, Faster Operations
When a manufacturer operates at a Level 1 maturity, they rely on manual data entry across multiple disconnected platforms.
- The Risk Reduction: A mature Level 3 program utilizes automated data validation. When data flows directly from the ERP to external partners, costly human administrative errors are eliminated. Data protection and cybersecurity practices are embedded in operations.
- The Performance Gain: This accuracy ensures smooth coordination. Goods hit the market faster, supply chain lead times are reduced, and manufacturers avoid costly port storage fees.
For Logistics Providers and Carriers: Faster Transit and Border Clearance
Moving physical documents alongside physical cargo creates a massive bottleneck for logistics providers.
- The Risk Reduction: Eliminating paper removes the high risk of document loss or transit delays. Real-time digital custody ensures the cargo is never paralyzed by a missing courier package.
- The Performance Gain: Level 3 maturity increases the likelihood that customs authorities receive complete, accurate documentation well before the vessel docks, enabling faster border clearance and optimized routing.
For Financial Institutions: Quicker, Safer Trade Finance
For banks and financiers, trade finance is currently bottlenecked by the manual verification of paper documents, which drastically increases operational costs and processing times.
- The Risk Reduction: Paper documents are highly vulnerable to fraud, tampering, and double-financing (where the same paper invoice is used to secure loans from multiple banks). Utilizing electronic documents validated by strong Level 3 governance frameworks allows banks to instantly verify the authenticity and origin of the data, reducing fraud exposure.
- The Performance Gain: With confidence in the digital data, banks can automate compliance and document-checking processes. This slashes credit approval and transaction times from days to minutes, allowing financial institutions to process higher transaction volumes and deploy capital faster—which, in turn, unlocks vital working capital for their clients.
A Call to Action
The transition away from paper in international trade is no longer a futuristic concept; it is the baseline for modern competitiveness. Transitioning from analog to digital trade is not merely an IT upgrade; it is a strategic imperative that institutionalizes this trust. More mature digital trade capabilities create a transparent, verifiable environment in which trading partners can collaborate with confidence, unlocking faster customs clearance and quicker bank payments.
The ICC-DSCI pilot data suggests that while companies are approaching Level 3 on their defensive foundations, they are leaving the most transformative benefits on the table due to Level 1 strategic integration and executive commitment. A logistics company executive stated, “Establishing a baseline allowed us to prioritize improvement areas to target. The data from the assessment got senior management’s attention and led to us setting performance targets that serve to make digital trade capabilities part of our strategic plan. The next step is to involve our key customers and business partners.”
For senior management and supply chain leaders, the path forward is clear. At your next leadership meeting, ask a simple question: Is digital trade enablement reflected in our annual plan, supported by an identified owner, measurable KPIs, and dedicated funding? Then, leverage industry-standard digital trade readiness frameworks to benchmark where you stand and pinpoint your highest-priority gaps. Friction removed from your own operations is friction removed from the entire network.
The pilot results make clear that the next frontier of digital trade is not technology adoption alone. You must shift the narrative in your company and boardroom, pulling digital trade out of isolated IT and trade documentation functions and integrating it directly into your corporate strategy with dedicated KPIs. Frame this transformation not merely as a software upgrade, but as a strategic investment in collective trust. By breaking down internal walls and collaborating with your external partners, you activate the network effect. Only then can organizations escape the trap of parallel workflows, build trust and realize the full benefits of digital trade: faster clearances, accelerated cash cycles, stronger security, and a truly frictionless global supply chain.
Craig Moss is Director of Projects at the Digital Supply Chain Institute, a non-profit, applied research initiative of the Center for Global Enterprise in New York. He is also Executive Vice President of Ethisphere and Director of Content for the Cyber Readiness Institute. Craig is a leading expert on using management systems to improve compliance and risk management performance within companies and across supply chains.
Vivek Ghelani is Director of Research at the Digital Supply Chain Institute. He drives research and executive engagement that help organizations transform traditional supply chains into connected, customer-centric networks of value. Vivek also serves as a Senior Research Analyst at Mercator XXI, LLC, and Director of Analytics & Research at the Cyber Readiness Institute, a non-profit initiative of the Center for Global Enterprise.
