Hybrid-Paperless Adoption & Integration: Evaluotion of the Current Situation in Turkey

Unprecedented technological changes are taking place in the extremely chaotic business environment of today. Removing paper-based processes and increasing integration have become a strategic priority in all business lines. Nevertheless, foreign trade area can still be regarded as relatively conservative. Traditional paper-oriented process still continues to be widely used in the field of foreign trade. Therefore, there is a need for a radical and comprehensive shift from paper-based approach to full integration by means of electronic documents. Foreign trade transactions are currently performed in a mixed way, which varies between digital and traditional. This phenomenon is called hybrid-paperless solutions. The main purpose of this paper is to clarify the current situation of hybrid-paperless adoption and the level of integration in Turkey by conducting qualitative analysis. For this purpose, interviews have been performed to understand the prevailing perceptions of foreign trade practitioners.