For more than a decade, discussions about digital commerce have focused on technology, interoperability, data standards, platform alignment, and blockchain networks.
These issues are important, but they do not reflect the day-to-day reality of SMEs, carriers and operations teams who still manage documents manually and whose first question may be practical: Can digitization help me avoid courier delays, reduce document errors, and move cargo without waiting for each counterparty to modernize?
This is where a self-service channel capable of issuing secure digital copies makes sense, as it offers operators a practical way to reduce delays and errors without relying on each counterparty to modernize at the same time.
Why is digitization out of reach for smaller players?
For many companies, digitization has long felt out of reach. Designed as something complex, expensive, or for large organizations with IT teams and global digital strategies.
Most SMEs don’t think about interoperability frameworks or data models. They think that a courier stuck in transit can delay the release of the shipment. A bank that rejects a scanned copy is forced to reprint the entire document and send it in a costly rush.
This operational reality is supported by a March 2025 survey of SMEs, transport and trade professionals by Enigio that showed
- 53.62% still send the original paper by courier
- 46.81% experience delays that are directly caused by the physical movement of the document
- 51.49 percent say that courier costs are still a considerable burden
- 42.13 percent reported that banks or clients still require “originals,” rendering PDFs unusable, and
- 64.26% consider the reduction of processing delay as their main motivation for going digital
The perception that digitization requires complex systemic changes has inadvertently left smaller players feeling left out. Paper survives not because it is efficient, but because it is predictable.
Why the interoperability narrative slows adoption
A common assumption in the industry is that digitization is only viable when every system and every counterparty can be seamlessly connected.
This creates a feeling of paralysis: if digital business “only works when everyone joins in,” SMEs assume they have to wait for the ecosystem to modernize.
In fact, operators can digitize documents without involving or integrating the platform. Digitization does not require identical systems, shared networks or mass upgrades. This requires a way to replace the paper without changing the existing workflow.
A more practical starting point: focus on the document
Digital transformation is accelerated when the digital document itself has its own value.
When a digital master is legally valid, unique, transferable and verifiable, independent of any platform, it can move through the supply chain with the same power as paper.
This is the main need of operators: a document they can use, send and trust.
The goal is not to imitate the look of paper, but to maintain the independence and authority that paper has traditionally provided. A digital document with its own integrity eliminates the dependency that has slowed adoption for years.
Why is the self-service shift important?
A self-service channel is important because it removes the historical threshold and allows digitization at level one single documentcreated by a Single companyused by a The opposite side of the unitwithout having to change the world around them first.
This alone challenges the long-held assumption that interoperability must be solved before digital commerce can work.
While interoperability and standards organizations are central to shaping long-term alignment, for SMEs and transporters, adoption depends on whether the solution is accessible, immediate and realistic in the rhythm of daily operations.
A practical example of this self-service channel is Enigio, which shows how operators can independently create digital masters without the need for partners, banks or operators to adopt new infrastructure.
Access and awareness is the key to digitization
Legal frameworks, standards and digital document schemes already exist. What is missing is the awareness that digitization is now accessible to ordinary businesses.
- Adoption begins when SMEs realize they can stop sending core messages without waiting for others to modernize.
- When forwarders avoid delays and rework, momentum is created.
- As companies experience more predictable workflows, digitization becomes operational rather than aspirational.
If you’re interested in learning more about how digital originals work, click here.
related
About the Author
