IBM announced that Mexican software developer, Logiety, has created a digital platform on IBM Cloud.
Using Watson Visual Recognition API on IBM Cloud, the solution helps customs officials to digitize documents on-the-fly with smart phones to quickly identify and classify goods, reducing errors and boosting productivity.
In Latin America, clients who are shipping products internationally must provide customs agencies with physical documents containing all the details of their shipments.
Customs agents then manually process these documents and must properly identify and classify the shipment in order to calculate the tariffs and taxes.
The Logiety mobile app allows customs agents to digitally capture these documents with a smartphone camera.
The app then sends the images to the IBM Cloud, where the Watson Visual Recognition API analyzes them and provides products’ description, regulations and classification, allowing agents to more quickly identify the required tariffs and taxes.
One customs agency in Southeast Mexico is currently using the service in beta. “IBM’s cloud and cognitive technologies have been essential in helping us create an intelligent app that helps customs agencies simplify and speed the import-export process,” said Daniel Alarcón, co-founder of Logiety.
The Logiety platform will launch for general availability in Latin America later this month.
The rollout will begin in seven Latin American countries, with plans to translate the app into English and extend it into even more regions.
