AN even larger selection of boutique Western Australian exporters may soon be impressing the international community with what the State has to offer, if they are willing to embrace new technology.
MyExports, a project designed to assist exporters by providing a simple, secure and flexible online payment solution, has just secured a grant of $165,000 under round nine of the National Office for the Information Economy’s Information Technology Online program.
The software is aimed at small to medium-sized enterprises that are reluctant to import or export goods due to the complexity and cost of the current system.
Paymate Pty. Ltd. managing director Dilip Rao, whose company created myExport, Dilip Rao, said the software was designed to facilitate cross border transactions more readily for companies that had low volume, high value imports and exports.
Austrade Internet adviser Edwin Kuller said myExports had the potential to significantly increase the competitiveness of Australian exporters by making it easier for over-seas importers to buy Australian products.
He said the system was ideal for companies such as small boutique wineries or the seafood industry because it allowed the exporter to operate more regularly and ship in smaller quantities.
Larger operations, Mr Kuller said, would probably not be interested in this initiative as they probably had their own system.
He said myExport was really an alternative to the telegraphic transfer and direct dealings with banks during the export and import process.
Mr Rao said myExports was aiming to bypass the complex process of exporting and importing goods and services.
“It will allow SMEs to move money reasonably seamlessly between, say, a buyer in the UK and seller in Australia,” he said.
Mr Rao said the system was designed to make the export and import process more transparent for small operators and incorporated key aspects of export and import tran-sactions such as viewing invoices online, checking payment dates, rejecting payments and organising and paying for freight.
He said the company was working with organisations such as Australian Customs to incorporate aspects other than payment into the system such as the shipping of freight.
Mr Rao said that while the cost of using myExports was yet to be determined, his expectation was that it would be cheaper than the current costs of exporting and importing.
“My expectation is that it would be half of the cost that a company would normally incur when importing and exporting,” he said.
Phase 1 of myExports is currently being piloted by Australian software provider Paymate Pty. Ltd. in collaboration with Austrade and DHL-Danzas using the UK as the test market.
The myExports project is being facilitated by Austrade as part of its current push to double the number of current exporters by 2006.
