Designing and building a smarter way to address trade barriers

UK exporters face a range of non-tariff barriers—from complex customs procedures to opaque local regulations—that delay or block trade.

The Department for International Trade (DIT) needed help designing and proving a new post-Brexit digital service that made it easier for UK businesses to report non-tariff barriers, and for government to respond quickly and effectively.

What kept them up at night

As the UK prepared to leave the EU, there was no unified digital service to help businesses understand, track, or report the trade barriers holding back their exports. Reporting was fragmented, and outcomes were difficult to track. DIT had a clear vision of: 

• Helping more UK firms export successfully by addressing barriers faster.
• Enabling smarter prioritisation so government effort targets the most critical issues.
• Generating data-driven insight to support negotiations and trade policy. 

How we helped

Transform was commissioned to deliver the Alpha phase: validating the concept with users, designing the end-to-end service, and building a working prototype. We would then hand the delivery of Beta to an internal DIT team, equipped with a clear plan for technology, operations, analytics, and adoption.

We worked closely with businesses, trade associations, overseas posts and Whitehall teams to understand the real barriers to exporting. Through interviews, journey mapping and prototype testing, we identified clear needs: exporters wanted to learn, check and report trade barriers easily; government needed a way to screen, assess and resolve them systematically.

Building on that insight, we designed an end-to-end digital service on great.gov.uk where UK businesses could understand what counts as a trade barrier, browse known issues and report new ones. Behind the scenes, a linked case-management flow enabled officials to triage, assess and act—integrated with DIT’s Data Hub for a seamless analyst experience. The Alpha prototype, built on DIT’s open-source stack, proved these journeys in practice, combining official notifications and user reports into a single view of global trade issues.

Throughout Alpha we prioritised usability, inclusion and measurable impact. We iterated designs until users consistently completed journeys first time, planned assisted-digital support and resilience measures, and embedded analytics to track satisfaction and digital take-up. Working in agile sprints with open show-backs, we built trust across departments and left DIT with a tested, scalable service ready to move confidently into Beta. 

This ensured DIT could move seamlessly into Beta—delivering safely at pace on GOV.UK PaaS with proactive monitoring and clear support models.

The new service gave UK exporters a clear, simple way to understand what counts as a trade barrier, check what’s already known, and report new issues—all in one place. It turned what was once a fragmented, opaque process into a straightforward route to get products to market faster.

For government, it created a connected pipeline from intake to resolution, supported by data and analytics that reveal where barriers arise, which sectors are affected, and where intervention delivers the greatest impact. The result was a smarter, more transparent system that helped officials act quickly, prioritise resources, and shape future trade negotiations with evidence and confidence.