Trade Knowledge
6 Reasons Not to Use Word Templates for Your Export Documents
1. Word Templates Aren’t Always Accurate
When you download a document template, you’re trusting that the file is accurate in the moment, which may or may not be the case. Templates aren't automatically updated as regulations and requirements change and forms evolve.
Are you taking the time to monitor regulatory changes daily and verify that those changes are reflected in the forms you’re using? That’s exactly what Shipping Solutions does. With Shipping Solutions, you get the assurance that a team of industry experts stands behind the product and works daily to keep it updated.
Furthermore, when you grab a template online or try to format one yourself, you don’t know that document’s validity or intended purpose. With more than 3,000 clients and hundreds of thousands of shipments under our belt, you can trust that our software reflects industry standards.
2. Word Templates Don't Share Data
You usually need to create a variety of documents for every export shipment. It's not unusual to prepare five or more forms for every shipment. When you use a Word or other types of templates for these forms, you have to reenter the same information into these documents again and again.
Shipping Solutions software allows you to enter all of the data once, so you don’t waste time on data entry. This doesn’t just save time, it maintains consistency in your documents.
Here’s just one example of why consistency matters: If you’re relying on a letter of credit, you have to make sure your documents are uniform in order to get paid. Inconsistent documents take time and are expensive to correct—they will almost always delay your payday, too.
Shipping Solutions software gives you the ability to correct an error in one place that transfers throughout all the documents, which templates can’t do for you.
3. Word Templates Lack Important Export Features
Word templates don't give you the ability to file your electronic export information through AES, a critical function Shipping Solutions offers.
Word templates don't easily connect to your company's accounting, ERP or order-entry system. This back-and-forth of files means lost time and the chance to introduce more errors. We solve that problem by letting you decide if you want to integrate your shipping and accounting systems and then guiding you through it.
Word templates don't include export compliance screening capabilities like Shipping Solutions Professional does. Preparing the documents is only part of the job—export compliance is the other half. Don’t wait until it’s too late to understand your role in export compliance.
Word templates can't easily be modified for each of your users. Different people in your company's export process have different responsibilities. Shipping Solutions software lets you create a variety of profiles and assign specific user rights, so everyone can do their job without modifying data that shouldn't be changed.
Word templates don't make it easy to convert back and forth between the imperial measurements most U.S. companies use and the metric measurements often required on export forms. Most templates don't allow you to convert currencies on an invoice from U.S. dollars to a foreign currency, if required.
4. Word Templates Don't Store Your Contacts and Products
Microsoft Word and Google Docs are word processing programs, and they're just not designed for exporters. They don't allow you to enter or import lists of your products, customers, freight forwarders, and other contacts and store them in databases like the Shipping Solutions software does.
With Shipping Solutions, you can easily select a product or contact from a drop-down list, and the software automatically enters all the related information into the various export documents. Again, the less typing you have to do, the less chance you have for errors that can slow down your shipments and slow down payment.
5. You Risk Downloading Bad Templates
Not only does relying on Word or other templates put you at risk of using outdated or incorrect export forms, it's a giant security risk. Unfortunately, there are plenty of people out there who are looking to infect your computer with viruses for mischevious or other, more nefarious purposes. By downloading templates from untrusted sources, you may risk downloading a virus, which puts your computer’s stability (and your important documents and files) at risk.
6. It's Just You and Your Word Template
When you complete export documents with Microsoft Word or other templates, it’s just you and your computer screen. How’s that for assurance? We’ve got a better way. Our live phone and email support, annual maintenance programs, user guides, training videos, and online help desk are available to help you easily and successfully complete export forms. You don’t have that support structure if you’re just downloading a template.
A Few Final Words
Yes, you can complete your export documents using Word or other templates, but should you? Only if you’re OK with mediocre results.
If you’re ready to move from pan-fried meat to gourmet grilled steak, complete your documents using Shipping Solutions software. We can show you how easy that can be. Whet your appetite and see how much easier this is compared to the way you’re filling out forms now.
( Melissa )16 Aug,2018
BRIEF
INTRODUCTION
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