The IT team of logistics operator Europa Worldwide Group says the technical development behind Europa Road’s new product, Europa Flow, has been its biggest challenge yet.
Europa invested £5m into its preparations for Brexit, including the launch of its unique customs product which included the development of LeoClear – the bespoke IT system created to support it.
Europa’s IT team spent over two years developing the new system, which manages customs clearance, and the payment of duty & VAT as well as the customer portal LeoWeb. Ultimately the in-house product improves efficiencies, increases accuracy, and reduces paperwork.
Europa Flow was launched on the 1st January this year after 12 months development, designed to facilitate exports to the EU on DDP terms – removing the hassle for EU importers, by negating their need to appoint a customs broker or pay import duties, whilst zero rating the import VAT.
To ensure LeoClear could deliver the required service, links with UK, French and Belgium customs systems, Eurotunnel and many others were developed. In total, Europa’s IT team created 13 new external links to support services including export/import declarations, ncts, tariff calculation and entry summary declarations.
Paul Hinchley, Head of Software Development at Europa Worldwide Group comments: “The development of the LeoClear system is another exciting launch for Europa and the next logical extension to the Leonardo suite, which continues to add tangible benefits to the business wherever it is implemented.
“The design of the new system has been focused around simplifying the process for the Europa Road team to deliver a slick and seamless service for customers – helping businesses to be as efficient as possible within the customs world.”
Europa has already launched 10 different Leonardo modules deployed across the operation, including LeoRoad, developed to enhance Europa’s road freight operations and LeoFinance created to streamline credit control, in turn improving cash flow for the business and simplifying supplier management.
The name Leonardo was inspired by the famous quote from Da Vinci himself, who said, ‘simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’ and it has given Europa in-house control over its systems, improving responsiveness, efficiency, productivity and scalability.
The first phase LeoRoad was launched in 2016 focusing on road freight operations and continuous software developments continue to drive improvements in operations, processes and communications.
Europa Worldwide Group has six divisions – Europa Road, Europa Air & Sea, Europa Showfreight, Europa Warehouse, Europa Contact Centre and Continental Cargo Carriers.
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