Proforma Global has created something unique in Europe: CARES Analytics, a cloud-based platform that automatically reconciles 100% of customs declarations with commercial invoices. Checking stacks of invoices against customs declarations, once a nightmare, is now an automated, efficient process that's transforming how companies handle international trade compliance.
Behind this innovation are Ulf Blazek and Ulf Holmström, co-owners of Proforma Global. With 16 years of experience at UPS and a unique blend of operational expertise and IT knowledge, Ulf Blazek has been instrumental in developing CARES's user experience and ensuring the platform delivers on its promise of simplified compliance.
"I'm a guy that needs to touch packages," Ulf explains, describing his hands-on approach to building CARES. As the liaison between Proforma and their development team, he's focused on creating an intuitive interface that makes customs compliance accessible to everyone—not just compliance experts.
The challenge: when traditional compliance methods fall short
In the world of international trade, customs compliance is non-negotiable. Companies must prove that every invoice in their books matches a corresponding customs declaration—a requirement that spans the globe. Traditionally, this meant manual spot checks on just 5% of documents, leaving 95% unverified and creating significant compliance risks.
A key challenge in meeting this requirement is that major express carriers like FedEx, DHL, and UPS share data only via PDF copies of customs declarations, instead of an easily machine readable data format. "FedEx said that the regulations don't state that the customs agent is required to submit a data file," Ulf recalls. "But what they do instead is send a copy—just a PDF." For an industrial supplies company using CARES that processes over 4,500 documents monthly, manual data entry from PDFs wasn't just inefficient, it was impossible.
Why Sensible: from Googling to "It actually works!"
Faced with this challenge, Ulf turned to the internet. "I actually just Googled and went into many different sites and applications," he remembers. "Everyone was saying, 'Yeah, yeah, we can do this, we can do that, no problem.' But when I came to Sensible, I actually got it to (pull clean data off of customs forms quickly)."
Ulf dove into Sensible's AI-powered document automation platform and was pleasantly surprised. "I could see by looking at the different columns and say okay, yeah, it looks good. We have the data, the structure, and that was the key," Ulf explains. The accuracy was so high—98-99%—that it gave Proforma confidence to offer this as a reliable solution to CARES customers.
The implementation: building a safety net for customs compliance
Working closely with Sensible's customer success team, Proforma configured Sensible to extract data from various customs declaration formats. The implementation was smooth, with Sensible handling documents from multiple countries and brokers with minimal configuration.
Here's how the integrated solution works:
The beauty of the solution lies in its flexibility. For smaller brokers who directly provide data files, CARES imports directly. For the major express carriers, Sensible seamlessly fills the gap by converting PDFs into an identical structured format.
The results: from 5% manual checks to 100% compliance
The impact has been transformative. Instead of manually checking 5% of documents and hoping for the best, CARES customers now enjoy
- 100% automated verification of all customs declarations against invoices
- Instant deviation detection that flags mismatches in values, currencies, or invoice numbers
- Audit-ready documentation with explanations for every mismatch
- Data-driven broker feedback to improve accuracy at the source
For example, when CARES recently detected a declaration that showed €387.79 instead of the invoice's €403.50, the system immediately flagged it. The customer could then provide factual feedback to the broker: "Hey guys, something is wrong. We have a commercial invoice that is 403, but you declared it as 387. Why?"
"It's not just a tool for compliance," Ulf emphasizes. "It's a tool for improvements."
Looking forward: scaling across Europe and beyond
With CARES Analytics powered by Sensible, Proforma Global can now confidently approach new customers across Europe. The solution is particularly timely given the EU's recent overhaul of customs declaration formats, which has standardized layouts across countries—making Sensible's extraction even more powerful.
"It actually enables a platform," Ulf explains. "For every other customer where we have an issue with customs brokers not submitting a data file, we have a solution that's close to 100%."
As international trade becomes more complex and compliance requirements more stringent, CARES Analytics stands ready to help companies navigate these challenges. And with Sensible handling the document processing heavy lifting, Proforma knows that no customs declaration will slip through the cracks.
Ready to transform your document processing workflows like Proforma Global? Book a demo with Sensible to see how our intelligent document processing can solve your data extraction challenges, or explore our managed services for a fully customized implementation.
