BSM 2021 – That’s a wrap

What did we learn in 2021…..

Change is now the norm..

Greater awareness of all things supply chain..

Flexible working is no longer a discussion..

There’s no doubt that the past twelve months have been some of the most difficult ever experienced by the international business community. We’ve all been faced with unique challenges that have forced us to re-evaluate the traditional ways in which we’ve conducted business in the past. 

Flexibility has become the new buzzword. Working from home is now commonplace, so much so that we may never revert to a full time office based workforce. We’ve all had to develop “Teams” or “Zoom” meeting expertise, attempting to look professional while casually dressed and in some cases, wrangling children & pets at the same time. 

In the International Export/Import community, where BSM operates, this has been a time of tremendous upheaval and unpredictability. Skyrocketing freight rates, limited capacity available from carriers, difficulties in obtaining firm bookings and a distinct lack of availability of the necessary equipment and containers into which exporters can pack their goods for shipment, have all caused major problems. In such an environment of uncertainty, the ability to be able to provide buyers with a steady stream of accurate, up to date information regarding the progress of their orders has almost become negotiable currency.

Consequently, BSM has been able to not only survive, but to actually thrive through this period as we have collaborated with existing clients to focus on a number of issues. Whether it be upgrading their reporting capabilities in order to ensure their buyers are receiving constant updates on their shipments, or integrating their BSM site into their new, updated ERP systems as well as a number of other urgent items. At the same time, we’ve been fortunate to engage with a number of new prospects and long term target customers who gained a new appreciation of the value of a digital system such as that offered by BSM, after the pandemic highlighted the obvious flaws in their largely manually driven systems and processes.          

As a result of this intense level of activity from both our operations and sales teams, we have experienced a record year of trading and have been able to welcome a number of new clients into the BSM family. New sites implemented during the last year have been spread across a wide variety of different vertical markets. These include Recycling, Meat, Dairy, Agriculture, Horticulture, Food and Beverage, Beer, Wine and Spirits, Resources and Major Retail. This diverse range of clients only serves to reinforce the inherent value in a BSM site, no matter what products you are exporting or importing.

Another major focus for BSM this last year has been in progressing the many external projects we currently have under way. Our Carrier Project continues to grow and expand as we engage with a number of our clients and the major shipping lines to establish purely digital interaction between them both. The final desired outcome will be to provide our clients with the ability to make bookings, lodge forwarding instructions, receive container milestone updates, receive freight invoices and much more, all from within their BSM site. 

In addition, we have worked with a number of our clients in the Dairy and Agriculture spaces to assist them to establish connection with DAWR directly from their BSM sites for the lodgement of either NEXDOC or PEMS compliance documentation. The feedback from our clients is that the assistance received from BSM has been invaluable.

Internally, BSM has added a number of new employees to our operational and IT teams throughout the company. They are spread across all countries and regions in which we operate and have been a welcome addition as we gear up for another hectic year in 2022. We’d like to invite you to join us in welcoming all our new BSM employees and to thank them for their efforts as they work hard to bring themselves up to speed with our systems and processes, our many individually developed BSM client sites and you, our main client contacts.

We’d also like to thank all our loyal clients who have supported us throughout the year and we look forward to continuing to be of service to you for many years to come. 

Finally, it only remains for us to take this opportunity to wish everyone all the joy that comes with the impending festive season and to express our wish that it be a time for families to reunite, enjoy each other’s company once more, recharge batteries and look forward with optimism and enthusiasm to all that 2022 holds in store.

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year from everyone at BSM.