This post recaps our recent webinar “Shifting Compliance Left,” featuring trade experts Chad Bussell, Kyle Grobler, Robert Thompson, and Shannon Hynds. They shared practical strategies for transforming compliance from a reactive process to a proactive business advantage. Here are some key takeaways.
For many global trade teams, compliance feels like a never-ending fire drill.
Emails flying. Deadlines slipping. Shipments delayed because someone missed a classification code. It’s chaotic – and all too common.
But what if compliance didn’t have to be a series of emergencies? What if you could move from being the firefighter who rushes to put out sparks, to the architect who designs a fireproof system from the start?
That’s the promise of shifting compliance left, a strategic evolution that turns compliance from a back-office burden into a powerful driver of competitive advantage.
The Problem with Firefighting
As international trade expert Chad Bussell puts it, trying to handle compliance at the last minute – when goods are already set to ship – is like “trying to cook a massive Thanksgiving dinner for 20 people when you only have an hour on the clock.”
In other words: it’s stressful, inefficient, and prone to disaster.
Most compliance teams operate in this reactive mode, trapped in what Bussell calls the compliance firefight — a constant cycle of correcting what’s already gone wrong. You’re reclassifying shipments. You’re discovering missing origin data when the cargo is already at sea. You’re spending more time fixing problems than preventing them.
And the cost isn’t just financial. It’s strategic. When compliance is stuck in the past, your entire supply chain suffers.
Shifting Left: From Reaction to Prevention
The way out of this loop isn’t more efficiency at putting out fires,- it’s eliminating the conditions that start them.
That’s the essence of shifting compliance left: embedding compliance thinking at the very start of the product lifecycle.
Before a purchase order.
Before a sourcing contract.
Even before a design is finalized.
When compliance moves left – to the earliest stages of product and supplier development – companies can design risk out of the system.
Instead of reacting to errors, you’re preventing them.
Instead of pushing paper, compliance becomes a strategic partner influencing design, sourcing, and profitability decisions from the outset.
Global trade manager Kyle Grobler distills it perfectly:
“It’s not about getting better at fighting fires. It’s about figuring out how to stop them from ever starting in the first place.”
Three Pillars of Proactive Compliance
So how do you actually make this shift inside a complex organization? Experts point to three essential pillars:
- Communication
Get out of the silo. Don’t wait for a ticket or an escalation. Sit with product developers, buyers, and sourcing managers. Host office hours. Make compliance visible, – and human. - Education
Explain why information matters. Don’t just ask what a product is made of; explain how material choices impact duty rates or market access. When people understand the “why,” they care about the “what.” - Proactivity
Don’t wait for next quarter’s shipment. Get into conversations about products that are two or three years out. Influence early-stage design decisions while they’re still flexible.
These principles may sound simple, but executing them requires a shift in mindset, and language.
Becoming the Translator
One of the biggest barriers to proactive compliance isn’t knowledge, it’s communication. Compliance professionals speak in technical terms: HTS codes, tariff schedules, country-of-origin rules. Meanwhile, product and procurement teams think in terms of costs, lead times, and customer demand.
To bridge this gap, you need to become a translator.
Bussell offers a brilliant example: instead of explaining material content percentages, frame it like a recipe. Everyone understands what goes into a cheeseburger. Analogies like that help translate complex rules into business language that drives decisions.
Your colleagues don’t need to know every regulation. They need clarity on questions like,
“Is sourcing from Country A better than Country B?”
Your role is to simplify the complex and deliver actionable insight, not overload them with acronyms.
Empowering, Not Outsourcing
Of course, simplifying compliance doesn’t mean surrendering control. The goal isn’t to let non-experts make final calls – it’s to ensure the right conversations happen with compliance, not without it.
Bussell agrees – “The conversation is going to happen with or without you. You can either be a part of it and help guide it or be left out completely.”
That visibility and collaboration are the hallmarks of a modern compliance team.
Why Now? Because the Stakes Are Higher Than Ever
The urgency for this shift has never been greater. Global trade is more volatile, regulations are changing faster, and the financial stakes have skyrocketed.
A few years ago, calculating landed cost was an accounting exercise. Today, a single tariff change can swing an entire product line from profitable to unviable overnight.
That’s why compliance is no longer a mid-level function, it’s a C-suite conversation.
And the companies that win won’t be those who react fastest, they’ll be the ones who anticipated risk before it existed.
The ROI of Prevention
It’s famously hard to measure the ROI of good compliance, but the analogy holds:
“Does stopping at a stop sign get you to your destination faster? No. But it prevents a wreck.”
Proactive compliance is your stop sign. It’s the discipline that prevents catastrophe and quietly keeps your supply chain, and your reputation, intact.
The ultimate payoff? You’ll get products to market faster, avoid costly customs delays, and make smarter sourcing decisions that improve profit margins.
In short, you’ll turn compliance from a cost center into a competitive advantage.
The Final Question
So ask yourself: Is your compliance team still acting as expert firefighters, reacting to every blaze that breaks out?Or have they evolved into architects, designing a resilient, efficient, and compliant supply chain from the start?
Because in today’s global trade environment, that answer could define your company’s success in the years ahead.
To dive deeper into the full discussion, watch the complete webinar on demand. And don’t miss future sessions, follow Quickcode on LinkedIn for upcoming events and insights.