Data is generated by every economic activity, including by the movement of goods and people. In fact, the convergence of several technologies is accelerating the generation of data. According … to experts, the volume of data continues to double every three years as information pours in from digital platforms, wireless sensors, virtual-reality applications, and billions of mobile phones. In addition, data storage capacity has increased, while its cost has plummeted. Data scientists now have unprecedented computing power at their disposal, and they are devising algorithms that are ever more sophisticated.

Effective border management requires the identification of people and goods, and the collection and analysis of relevant information at the earliest possible point in the travel and trade continuum. … The “business” of modern border management organizations has evolved, and is now driven by the active use of advanced data.

The New Zealand Customs Service is getting closer to completing a major modernization project, called the Joint Border Management System. The system has two key components: the development and … implementation of the New Zealand Trade Single Window; and advanced risk and intelligence capability, including new tools to provide sophisticated data mining, risk rating, and pattern analysis.

Twenty-first century challenges place demands upon Customs administrations throughout the world, particularly in developing countries. Customs services must, therefore, be effective and efficient … if they are to meet their revenue and trade facilitation targets, the achievement of which requires substantial investment in reforms, modernization, and continued improvement.

As a partner of business and a guardian of trade, Singapore Customs strives to strike a fine balance between making sure sufficient controls are in place to interdict illicit trade, and ensuring … that legitimate trade continues to flow unhindered. This requires Singapore Customs to be adept at data analysis, which strengthens enforcement and boosts compliance by the trading community.

As the WCO is dedicating 2017 to encouraging the use of data analysis for more effective border management, I would like to share my own personal experience in this field, and explain how I was … able to develop my data analysis skills thanks to the WCO’s support.

Data analytics – for example, automated selectivity rules – has become an increasingly important tool for Customs agencies. However, conventional data analytics has some critical limitations. … It can only look for pre-defined patterns and rules, and cannot make use of unstructured data, which comes in the form of emails, social media, blogs, documents, images and videos. Cognitive computing allows Customs agencies to extract insights from both structured and unstructured data, discover new patterns and rules, capture the experience of top performers, and improve the quality and consistency of decision-making.