Some industries change slowly enough that people begin to assume they always will. Import compliance has traditionally been one of them.
Recently, that pace has shifted. New regulatory expectations and reporting requirements are increasing the volume and precision of the data importers must provide. That data, however, rarely comes from a single system. It often originates from many independent manufacturers, vendors, and partners across a fast-moving supply chain.
When those sources don’t align, data quality becomes the first challenge. Importers feel pressure as requirements increase. All parts of import compliance and the supply chain work to translate those requirements into processes that can actually function. Somewhere in the middle, analytics teams spend as much time reconciling information as they do analyzing it.
Much of my recent work has been centered in this space. The assignments have focused on helping teams make sense of rapidly changing requirements and the data challenges that come with them. It’s the kind of work where the problem is clear, but the final solution is still taking shape—and that makes it an interesting place to be.
History suggests that during periods of disruptive change, the long-term solution is rarely clear at the beginning.
Before streaming transformed how people watched movies, Netflix started by mailing DVDs to customers’ homes. That wasn’t the final answer. While it improved convenience for many renters, it still relied on physical delivery, introduced delays, and wasn’t equally accessible to everyone. It was simply the best iteration available at the time. The breakthrough came later when technology and infrastructure made streaming possible.
Industries in transition often move through a similar period. The challenge is clear, but the path to solving it takes experimentation, iteration, and time.
Recognizing the problem clearly isn’t a failure. It’s usually the first step toward the solution everyone is still looking for.