Every year, on 26 January, Customs administrations celebrate World Customs Day. In the above context, the World Customs Organization (WCO) promotes a slogan dedicated to the efforts of customs administrations worldwide to accelerate their digital transformation by adopting a data culture based on a true data ecosystem that is knowledge-based and leverages science and technology. This year's theme is "Gradually Adapting Customs' Digital Transformation by Adopting a Data Culture and Building a Data Ecosystem."
The COVID-19 pandemic is not over yet and looking to the future, Customs must address workforce challenges and take advantage of the abundance of available, and often underutilized, data.
Customs can reinvigorate its digital transformation in the following ways. All these entities generate or collect a colossal amount of data.
To create or consolidate existing data ecosystems, the following actions can be considered:
- establish formal data governance to ensure the relevance, accuracy and timeliness of data
- use the standards developed by the WTO and other institutions on data format and exchange
- ensure appropriate data governance to ensure that the right people have access to the right data and that data protection regulations are respected
Enabling a data culture bridges the human resource gap
The biggest barriers to creating an organization that prioritizes data-driven decision making are not technical but cultural. A data-driven culture is one where every member of the organization has access to data analytics, along with the knowledge needed to use the data to manage the business. In order to foster a data culture, administrations need to enhance the training of their staff, that is, their ability to interpret and analyze data accurately.
Customs administrations should incorporate data science into their curricula for newly hired officers and participate in the development of distance learning courses to familiarize customs officers with data collection and analysis in order to create a culture of data In addition to training, administrations need to develop effective strategies to retain talented staff with better infrastructure and complex technical challenges. Staff also need to understand the bigger picture - the impact of Customs in effectively protecting society, facilitating trade and collecting revenue fairly.
Cultivating a culture of cooperation between Customs administrations
Customs administrations are called upon to consider data upgrading in their relationships with other actors in the supply chain, as well as making data available to the public and academia as a means of enhancing transparency, stimulating knowledge production and enabling dialogue with civil society.
Sharing data analytics with other governmental agencies increases the role and visibility of the TEPs in policy making and in obtaining the necessary resources, including donor funding. Disseminating customs data and information to society is part of governments' response to the general demand for open government.
International organizations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), United Nations agencies such as the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) or the International Trade Centre (ITC), all seek customs data to guide resource allocation and help assess the impact of modernization projects. Another incentive comes from private sector companies specialising in data applications and wishing to promote the use of data and their tools to public administrations.
Customs administrations, in cooperation with other agencies, experts and international organisations, will continue to support the exploration and improvement of how digital data is collected in order to make better use of it.
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Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
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