user, Author at Chainyard

Everest announced the research report of Enterprise Blockchain Services PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2022 with detailed profiles and assessments of 23 IT service providers.

No surprises, Chainyard leads the Major Contenders’ group. This designation is testimony to Chainyard’s Digital Transformation Services blockchain offerings to facilitate enterprise business transformations.

Chainyard’s blockchain journey started in 2015, with the quality assurance of Hyperledger Fabric releases beginning with “Open Blockchain.” With the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating blockchain adoption, use case adoption has changed from the early prototype and test engagements to full-fledged enterprise business transformations and development of new ecosystems across the arts, real estate, digital credentials and decentralized finance.

Chainyard is a Hyperledger and Linux Foundation member with the Hyperledger Certified Service Provider designation, an infrastructure partner of OpenIDL, an IBM Silver Business Partner, and ConsenSys Development Partner.

You may read more about the availability of the report here -> Everest Group.

Learn about how Chainyard can help you with your blockchain initiatives today. Schedule your complimentary consultation with a Chainyard blockchain expert!

In the Face of New Threats, Trust Your Supplier Is Helping Telecom Network Operators Build Stronger, More Resilient Supply Chains

Digital transformation in the telecommunications industry was already underway when COVID-19 arrived. But as in other industries, the disruption sparked by the pandemic has accelerated efforts to leverage technology on a variety of fronts. Of course, it has also introduced new obstacles that major firms in the sector are still figuring out how to navigate.

Among the biggest challenges faced by the telecom industry today is a persistent and sophisticated cyberthreat. As companies become more reliant on digital infrastructures, malicious actors — whether they’re working independently or under the direction of adversarial foreign governments — are increasingly setting their sights on organizations that are invaluable to the global IT supply chain. That includes the world’s largest telecom providers, whose clients often include major government agencies.

There’s also the well-documented semiconductor shortage. When chip manufacturing plants shut down and ports succumbed to gridlock during the pandemic, chipmakers scrambled to meet excess demand. Given that semiconductors are critical components of all advanced technologies and that demand surplus isn’t expected to subside any time soon, the telecommunications industry will continue to grapple with supply shortages.

And then, of course, there’s the issue of compliance. The patchwork of data privacy legislation that now spans much of the globe is creating additional pressures for companies in a wide range of sectors, and telecom players are no exception. Although digitalization in the telecom industry has largely been aimed at increasing speed and agility, new regulations calling for greater transparency in reporting and more robust data security practices tend to be at odds with those objectives. Like companies in other industries, telecom providers have struggled to be nimble while sharing an ever-increasing amount of data and adhering to more stringent legislative mandates.

As history has demonstrated countless times, pressure is often a key ingredient for innovation — including all things related to telecommunications transformation. The issues above have forced telecom providers to respond with solutions, and many are now answering the call. Firms such as Nokia, Vodafone, and BT have joined forces with Chainyard and leaders in other industries to implement Trust Your Supplier (or TYS): a blockchain-based solution that improves supplier qualification, validation, onboarding, life cycle information management, compliance, and risk management.

TYS is accelerating digital transformation in this sector and others by allowing for greater transparency and visibility across every supplier touchpoint. In the process, it supports more robust compliance activities, such as those supporting diversity, sustainability, cybersecurity, and anti-corruption.

Before TYS, most telecom providers faced a complex supplier onboarding process that typically occurred apart from other core processes (such as those associated with sales and contracting). TYS integrates with the enterprise resource planning platforms leading telecoms have already deployed, leveraging existing data to automate integral onboarding functions. This has significantly reduced the time needed to onboard new suppliers and allows qualified suppliers to immediately assume the vital role of supporting telecoms and their customers. By making it easier for procurement and partnership teams to collect, manage, and access supplier data associated with, say, diversity and inclusion activities, TYS also alleviates some of the pressures created by stringent compliance mandates.

Without the ability to continuously monitor supplier performance in today’s fast-paced global economy, organizations will continue to struggle with capturing the full benefits of digital transformation in the telecom market (and in other markets). They’ll face higher acquisition costs, greater procurement risks, potential compliance fines, and less resilient supply chains. They’ll also miss out on the opportunities that come with access to supplier performance analytics and a more diversified supplier base.

Moreover, companies that implement TYS are achieving these three major benefits:

Increased transparency is enabling companies to more easily identify vulnerabilities — think bottlenecks or supplier clusters in potentially risky areas. They also are able to build and maintain risk profiles for all suppliers, vendors, and third parties, allowing for ongoing visibility as risks fluctuate.

TYS is giving companies the ability to single out specialty or single-source suppliers and other vendors that could directly or indirectly exert outsized influence on their business results. They have near real-time insights regarding business processes that might lead to shortages or other disruptions, allowing them to address potential issues proactively and avoid unnecessary costs associated with remediation.

A homogenous supplier base can pose an existential threat to a telecom provider’s business, especially if it relies heavily on suppliers in areas characterized by high geopolitical or environmental risk. TYS can provide participating companies with greater access to a network of qualified suppliers, allowing them to mitigate these risks and to ensure remediation processes are in place should they be needed.

Telecom providers are playing a leadership role in the ongoing development of TYS. However, the above benefits are giving companies across many industries an advantage. As the risks associated with regulation, cybersecurity, and supplier consolidation continue to mount, TYS is giving participating firms the ability to navigate them with confidence.

Digital Classrooms/Education: A technology major transformed classroom activity management and remote education.

Our client, as part of a broader digital agenda, wanted to offer an immersive learning experience and better control by developing classroom management solution for educators and students. In specific, the client wanted to address challenges like inconsistent learning management methods in classrooms, widespread attention difficulties and distractions for students in the classrooms etc. Chainyard played a key role in developing a new classroom and remote education management solution that provides educators and administrators with a comprehensive platform to guide learning, increase collaboration and maximize classroom productivity.

The new solution enhanced student monitoring and student device control while also improving the communication between teachers and students.

Enterprise spending on digital business transformation continues to grow as companies look to take advantage of the benefits of cloud migration. Some of those benefits — like reduced infrastructure and maintenance costs — are seen almost immediately following a migration, whereas others are more cumulative. The efficiency and performance gains that come with streamlined operations, more rapid innovation, and generally improved security increase with cloud maturity, which is why leaders can no longer afford to delay the transition.

In 2020, 68% of CIOs indicated that cloud migration or expansion would be their top IT spending priority, according to Deloitte research. Data from Gartner revealed that more than 70% of companies had migrated at least some operations to the cloud by mid-2021.

Not every company has the same goals when migrating infrastructure to the cloud, and the decision might be influenced by a wide range of factors. Some companies might need to support a remote workforce in the wake of the pandemic, and others might seek greater resilience and flexibility amid uncertainty and disruption in their industries. Many hope to improve their ability to adapt to changing consumer expectations, and almost all are concerned about keeping their data safe in the face of more frequent and sophisticated cyberattacks.

Regardless of their initial goals, companies that do move to the cloud will inevitably experience the following benefits:

The benefits of the cloud are often transformative for organizations that can achieve them, but those transformations don’t happen automatically. Depending on their current operational posture, the challenges of cloud migration can be numerous and difficult to navigate for some companies.

Application upgrades might be required in the migration effort, as some might not be ready for the cloud. More importantly, key personnel and processes will have to adapt, as the move from on-site infrastructure can create significant changes to workflows and require new skills and expertise.

If companies don’t give teams enough time to adjust, they’ll face significant limitations to adoption. Likewise, leaders must make time to evaluate requirements across cloud service providers and carefully review service agreements or risk locking themselves into suboptimal solutions.

To minimize these challenges, companies should adhere to the following best practices:

Companies that experience the most benefits of cloud migration view the cloud as a cornerstone of their business strategy rather than merely an accelerator. But before you use the technology to transform your enterprise, identify use cases that could potentially provide the most return on your investment while moving you closer to core strategic objectives (e.g., cost reduction, improved scalability, increased innovation, and so forth).

Sound data management processes and clearly delineated roles and responsibilities will be beneficial during your initial migration and beyond. Try to codify these and include them in a governance model along with policies for controlling costs, reducing waste, accelerating implementations, and meeting other organizational goals.

Over time, a well-defined model will help drive adoption across your company and ensure that cloud regulatory compliance and security are key considerations when planning for each new initiative.

Making the most of the cloud requires not only technology, but also personnel with the knowledge, resources, and authority to drive initiatives. As more companies expand their cloud operations, the market for talent will get more competitive. Training programs that enhance the cloud capabilities of your existing workforce and partnerships with third-party specialists can help balance hiring costs and simplify change management.

A cloud migration project will present your company with opportunities to standardize new processes and tools, including those related to monitoring and security. Take advantage of these to improve your long-term operational support profile and streamline customer support.

Additionally, consider automating repetitive processes related to provisioning, scaling, monitoring, remediation, and other initiatives to maximize efficiency as your cloud usage accelerates.

Business disruption during and after cloud migration projects can eat into your overall return on investment and even pose existential threats. When planning your migration, consider the latency of cloud operations on internal and external users, and work with individual business units to determine the appropriate pace of adoption. Disruption can also occur after migration, most notably in the form of regulatory pressures. Given the ongoing evolution of data and privacy legislation, executives should regularly meet with their compliance and legal teams to ensure that the controls in place align with all relevant mandates.

For more information about how adopting cloud infrastructure could impact your organization, contact Chainyard to consult on how we can work together.

Enterprise spending on digital transformation technologies was already increasing across almost all sectors prior to the pandemic. Now, the race to modernize legacy IT systems has become an all-out sprint — and no organization wants to be left behind.

Although the heightened sense of urgency is indeed warranted, it has caused some leaders to forgo the critical planning that drives successful business transformation projects. But neglecting to plan for change management throughout the digital transformation process can be a recipe for failure.

Problems with digital transformation begin when companies commit to implementing solutions that aren’t aligned with their overall business goals. Leaders who feel that they’re a part of a technological arms race want to move fast. However, without a clear agenda linking initiatives to corporate priorities, they risk moving in the wrong direction. A sound digital transformation strategy is the most effective tool for preventing this scenario.

In general, the best strategies identify the objectives that, if met, will deliver the most value to an organization over time. They can help leaders prioritize digital transformation efforts by highlighting the actions and investments that add immediate value and present opportunities for collecting feedback to inform future progress. Even the most powerful digital transformation technologies can’t deliver value without a plan for implementation, and a sound strategy will also strengthen enterprise readiness by outlining the personnel, skills, processes, and other components necessary to ensure solutions yield the most favorable results.

Every company has unique goals, which means identifying an optimal outcome isn’t always straightforward. If you’re struggling to define your end goal, start by defining the problem.

Jay Ferro, CIO of Quikrete, recommends creating a problem statement that reveals the ultimate purpose behind your plan. “The ‘why’ of your organization’s digital transformation might be around improving customer experience, reducing friction, increasing productivity, or elevating profitability.” By succinctly articulating why this transformation is necessary, you can ensure that a clear purpose guides your subsequent actions and technology investments.

Digital transformations are complex and often require you to make wholesale changes to various components of your operations simultaneously. These might include process transformations, business model transformations, organizational transformations, or other changes that must occur to facilitate the successful integration of new technologies and capabilities. These and other changes must occur to facilitate the successful integration of new technologies and capabilities. Below are a few steps you can take to manage these effectively over the course of a digital transformation project:

Your problem statement can help pinpoint where change is needed most. As you reach the tactical planning stage, start thinking about the smaller changes that will occur during the transformation and their potential effects.

Ask yourself what outcomes they support and whether those are aligned with your larger goals. Does a change improve regulatory supportability or expose you to compliance risks? If it’s the latter, are you prepared to manage those risks? Does the change improve the security and operational profile of your company? Will it lead to new revenue streams or result in unnecessary fragmentation? Is it necessary to remain competitive or maintain market share? Is it a reaction to imminent threats or a response to long-term predictions?

The status quo might be unsustainable, but it’s also unwise to initiate change for its own sake. Understand the potential consequences of each change you’re considering, and weigh those carefully against your larger goals before moving forward.

Most companies in the early stages of digital transformation have some knowledge and skill deficiencies to be addressed to ensure effective change management. So once you’ve mapped out the scope and impact of your various business transformation projects, decide how you’ll fill existing gaps.

Hiring additional in-house talent is an option, though it could be expensive given the unprecedented demand for technical talent in the current labor market. Otherwise, you could partner with experienced consultants to help you coordinate and manage your processes, which will both help you fill the skill gaps and provide additional speed and flexibility.

All in all, make sure the team you choose to oversee the transformation has the necessary skills to make the important decisions that will determine your success.

Ongoing, transparent communication is essential for ensuring overall readiness prior to implementation and for securing organizational buy-in once it’s completed. Moreover, it can help you prevent unnecessary turf wars among business units and minimize disruption during the transition.

You should regularly meet with the team responsible for administering your initiatives and give frequent updates to the employees, customers, and other stakeholders ultimately impacted.

By making effective communication one of your highest leadership priorities throughout your business’s transformation, you can foster a digital transformation-ready company culture that embraces continual evolution. In today’s fast-paced business world, that’s exactly what it takes to win.

The healthcare industry is under intense pressure to improve its efficiency. However, interoperability between technology and various integrated systems presents many challenges that are hindering health facilities from being fully connected and productive.

We have known for years that healthcare needs solutions that artificial intelligence can provide. But the initial proofs of concept have taken too long to materialize. Without clear boundaries and use cases showing how AI in healthcare can work, leadership teams are unable to horizontally collaborate with each other.

Technology has the potential to transform the way healthcare works for patients, but right now, interoperability is difficult to attain. Despite industry guides such as the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, data is still a messy business. Data is stored in different ways and in different silos — and not every facility has the ability to read and understand the information contained within the respective silos and make it actionable.
This has a heavy impact on how practitioners work with technology. A radiologist reading film and a doctor making a diagnosis for a chronic pain patient only have access to their siloed expertise. With AI solutions in healthcare, data can be drawn from different disciplines and diagnosis can become faster and smarter.

When used in conjunction with AI, blockchain technology has the power to help practitioners and organizations work together without security risks. Because the blockchain represents a transparent, single source of information that cannot be changed, it can store data from multiple sources and create a harmonized picture of truth that different users can access without bias. In addition, limits can be put in place as to who has access to the data.

This helps healthcare experts form a central hub where the very best knowledge, therapies, and drug research can be pooled, therefore helping target diseases more effectively while keeping patient and research data absolutely secure and private.

It’s clear that leaders at healthcare organizations need to remove the siloed approach and develop an atmosphere of increased collaboration. But how, exactly?

Blockchain technology in healthcare helps fulfill all four kinds of interoperability defined by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society: foundational, structural, semantic, and organizational. Blockchain’s uses in healthcare create a basis — a structure — where data can live safely and transparently. Then, blockchain can enable a rendering that helps different kinds of readers see and understand the data.

Two aspects of blockchain technology that are especially interesting to the healthcare industry are permissioned blockchains and smart contracts. A permissioned blockchain maintains the privacy of data, knows all the stakeholders, and makes data viewable by actors on the network who are authorized to see it. Smart contracts are “instructions” on the blockchain that are executed automatically once all necessary conditions or events are met. This means decisions can be made available automatically without human intervention. That’s where the power of AI’s uses in healthcare really materialize. This harmonized dataset — coupled with safe and secure automation — means that AI can be used to make faster, better, and more predictive decisions.

Data is the engine behind AI, but it’s also becoming the engine behind healthcare systems and how doctors diagnose and treat patients. If we can aggregate and translate vast amounts of data into streamlined workflows, AI can be used to efficiently diagnose and monitor patients, detect illness, accelerate drug development, and seamlessly run clinical trials.

The ingredients for interoperability are all there, but it’s now up to operators and developers to find ways to work together. The benefits of AI in healthcare are massively transformative — as long as we can find ways to solve problematic perceptions of blockchain and data privacy and get human beings to open up their silos.

No one technology will save the future of healthcare interoperability. It will take collaboration between developers, operators, academics, drug researchers, and an interwoven stack of technologies to bring together a universe of data and put it to good use.

Organizations such as Zoom and Amazon naturally reaped the benefits of the transition to life under quarantine, but the less obvious winners were almost exclusively the companies with a broad digital footprint — think Etsy, Grubhub, Starbucks, and Pinterest. For these businesses, cloud capabilities made the difference between surviving and thriving when the pandemic struck, and early digital investments put them in a position to capitalize on key technology investments.

There are many technologies that effectively complement digital transformation efforts, but according to research from KPMG, artificial intelligence stands out to both 88% of small business leaders and 80% of those at the helm of larger organizations. And though AI is often thought of as an innovation of the future, it’s far from science fiction. In fact, the benefits of AI for business are well established, and the technology is already firmly entrenched in our daily lives, powering our cars, feeding us entertainment recommendations, making product suggestions, and curating our social media news feeds. In the right setting, AI initiatives are a cost-effective means to propel digital transformation, helping companies collect data, clean it, and mine it for game-changing insights.

AI is often used interchangeably with “machine learning” and “automation,” but there are distinct differences between the three terms. To make sure we’re all on the same page, let’s quickly break down what we mean when we refer to each:

AI, machine learning, and automation might be three distinct terms, but that’s not to say there can’t be overlap between them. In addition, each of these tools can add value to a digital transformation initiative if implemented in the right place.

AI has exciting potential. And although it’s being touted as a possible solution for all kinds of problems, it’s often easiest to see the benefits of artificial intelligence in existing use cases. In this section, we’ll examine three uses cases in which AI is empowering the switch to digital and generating incredible value for the companies relying on it.

Trust Your Supplier is a blockchain network Chainyard built on the IBM Blockchain Platform to help manufacturers combat counterfeit products and build networks of trustworthy suppliers. At its core, TYS offers three valuable capabilities, each powered by a type of artificial intelligence:

A mortgage is often the most significant investment a person makes in his or her lifetime, which is why Home Lending Pal: Intelligent Mortgage Advisor is designed to help buyers find the right mortgage product for them. By analyzing thousands of data points using machine learning — including existing debt, credit scores, income, and expenses — Home Lending Pal points buyers toward properties they can actually afford and suggests lenders that will be willing to loan them the money they need. Home Lending Pal is also improving loan access for customers with no credit history who wouldn’t otherwise qualify for a loan.

Although AI is certainly helping connect buyers with mortgages, it’s also being used to help banks predict how likely customers are to repay their personal loans. Upstart is one such tool, and the lending platform works with banks to augment limited credit scores (or replace them if credit scores aren’t available) using factors such as education and employment status. With AI predicting repayment, banks are less likely to lend to customers that will default on their payments.

What does adoption look like across the industry, though? A 2018 survey by Fannie Mae found that only one-third of mortgage lenders were utilizing AI, and about half of them were merely experimenting with the technology. That number is on the rise, however, and the same survey found that just 2% of lenders wouldn’t be willing to use the technology at all.

Lastly, the mortgage and lending process is just one potential application of artificial intelligence, and McKinsey’s Global AI Survey found that almost 60% of respondents in the financial services sector have adopted at least one AI capability. Robotic process automation is the most common, followed by chatbots or virtual assistants for customer service teams and machine learning tools to spot fraud and augment human underwriting teams. Although many financial-services organizations are still adopting AI in response to a specific problem, a growing number are seeking to implement it more broadly throughout their organizations.

A digital worker is a kind of software solution powered by various applications of artificial intelligence, ranging from natural language processing to machine learning to computer vision. Instead of supplanting human workers, digital workers perform tasks alongside them with speed, efficiency, and even advanced decision-making capabilities.

Digital workers are already having an impact in a number of industries, and their influence will only grow. According to research from IDC, digital workers will contribute 50% more to the global workforce from 2019 to the end of this year, with a 28% increase in instances of technology evaluating information and an 18% growth in reasoning and decision-making implementations.

Artificial intelligence as an idea has existed for decades, but the amount of high-quality data available and steady advancements in processing power have made AI a burgeoning field full of exciting possibilities.

Before you can get an accurate picture of AI’s potential impact on your organization, you need to understand the different types of cognitive computing, how they’re deployed, and

how they’re applicable to your business. Robotic process automation, for example, involves the automation of both digital and physical tasks; it’s the least expensive option and can offer the quickest payback period of any artificial intelligence technology solution. On the other hand, cognitive insight, which uses machine learning to detect patterns in vast volumes of data, can offer incredibly valuable insights — but the payoff isn’t guaranteed.

Whether it’s through a robotic investing advisor, a drug discovery tool, or a customer service chatbot, AI implementations are often specific to industries — and you can skip a lengthy discovery process by looking at the benefits of AI for businesses in your sector. Examine how your competitors are applying machine learning to business problems for inspiration, and look for standout examples of business process automation tools and other automated business systems.

With each passing day, it seems there are fewer limits to what AI can accomplish, but that doesn’t mean your first implementation should address the most complex issues in your organization. Look for obvious pain points where the technology can unlock the biggest benefit; this is usually done by eliminating an existing bottleneck or automating a manual process to allow your organization to scale. For example, if your business is ready to serve new customers but can’t seem to find sufficient suitable prospects, a tool to comb lead databases and support your sales team might be the best investment. If you already have plenty of customers but satisfaction rates are suffering, a chatbot can help address many of the most common queries and ease the burden on your service personnel.

Cognitive applications should always start with a pilot project that allows you to learn about the technology, understand how it will be integrated into your environment, and evaluate the capabilities of your staff. Develop a center of excellence around new technologies to help your organization scale a solution across multiple departments. If you notice that you’re missing certain capabilities internally, you’ll need to bolster your team by relying on third-party vendors.

AI implementations are complex undertakings, which is why it’s common for companies to partner with vendors who can bring advanced skillsets and a wealth of experience. Not all vendors are created equal, however, and because a capable partner can make or break an implementation, it’s important to keep a few things in mind when choosing a third-party provider:

You don’t want a new vendor that’s going to use your company as a learning opportunity. Look for a partner that has been around for more than five years and has a track record of success. These companies will have the fiscal security and corporate maturity to be dependable not just now, but also for years down the road.

An AI implementation is a journey and not a destination, so don’t expect a project to operate on autopilot once the implementation process is complete. Look for a vendor you can return to for help with ongoing needs, and one that can fit you in for future projects as well.

When choosing the right AI solution, the decision should be based entirely on your needs and not on the preferences of a potential partner. If vendors only advocate for the specific flavor of AI they specialize in, it’s safe to assume they’re more interested in their own success than in yours. Along those lines, look for a vendor that embraces open source over pushing the proprietary technologies it sells.

Your organization’s goals should be at the forefront of any vendor’s work. Although vendors should have their own proven processes, they should be willing to adapt their techniques and procedures to your team and your organization’s style, culture, and mission. If they’re not willing to be flexible, the partnership is unlikely to be a productive one.

Incorporating AI and machine learning in business should be a part of any digital transformation strategy. The benefits of AI for business are well documented, and unlocking these benefits in your own organization is simply a matter of understanding the technology, identifying its most promising applications, and assembling the capabilities necessary for a successful implementation.

For more information about how AI in digital transformation could impact your organization, contact Chainyard to consult on how we can work together.

Hyperledger Global Forum 2021 will offer the opportunity for users and contributors of Hyperledger projects from across the globe to connect, network and collaborate virtually. Social networking for the community to bond, and hacking activities will also be front and center at this annual event.

Join Chainyard throughout Hyperledger Global Forum for sessions that explore governance, interoperability, implementation, and inclusion. Participate in the following Chainyard led sessions:

Hyperledger Global Forum will be the premier virtual enterprise blockchain event of 2021.  Haven’t registered for the event yet?  Register here

This past year was unprecedented in many ways. The global fallout from COVID-19 strained governments, shutdown businesses, closed schools and impacted our population like the world has not experienced in over 100 years. The turmoil created stress and confusion for governments. The healthcare systems around the world, and corresponding readiness for a pandemic, were tested to capacity. Supply chains around the globe were upended. Due to executive orders to quarantine and the closing of businesses, unemployment numbers soared.

While many, even most industries struggled in 2020, the growth in some select industries is unrivaled. The growth was fueled by government stimulus, dovish federal reserve policy, new vaccines, and faith in the future. However, the more prominent actions that accelerated the growth in these industries, but also the shift to a more digital, virtual world. Specifically, the shift in how the workforce is functioning, consumers are spending, and even how services are being delivered. The shift has created a “new norm” where everybody accepts the changes. Many of these changes are here to stay.

As noted, not all industries, nor even all companies within these industries, benefited. The key differentiator between the companies that survived and the companies that accelerated was the depth of their digital footprint. While some companies naturally benefited, such as Zoom Communication due to remote work, others were able to pivot and leverage their previous digital transformation efforts to garner additional market share. Some of these companies have always been digital, while others invested in past strategic initiatives that allowed them to be better prepared. It is clear that companies with a significant digital footprint – Amazon, Grub Hub, Target, Chick-Fil-A, and many others – are the winners. Past digital transformation efforts allowed these companies to pivot more quickly, demonstrating an agility to adapt to the situation.

“The key differentiator between the companies that survived and the companies that accelerated was the depth of their digital footprint.” “Past digital transformation efforts allowed these companies to pivot more quickly, demonstrating an agility to adapt to the situation.”

These observations are readily apparent and are influencing other companies to make similar digital transformation investments. In the 2021 Technology Outlook from Deloitte, the key differentiators for companies are:

These are all strategic activities due to COVID-19. Furthermore, these activities will help companies to adapt, survive, and thrive in the future. With the 100% increase in digital transformation projects across enterprises, now is the right time to consider having maturing emerging technologies as part of your roadmap.

Most specifically, Blockchain, IoT, Cloud, and Artificial Intelligence should all be considered, both independently and together. Independently based on your specific use cases and together because each compliments the other in some way. Blockchain helps secure data and bring trust to transactions, real-time and immediate nature of smart contracts can leverage decisions made by AI bots to automate processes, and IoT can be used to bring large amounts of data into the ecosystem, helping the AI bots to make better decisions using trusted data. The positive impact of deploying these technologies strategically is bringing value to all industries.

“Now is the right time to consider having maturing emerging technologies as part of your roadmap. Most specifically, Blockchain, IoT, Cloud, and Artificial Intelligence should all be considered.”

In Retail, the University of Auburn’s Chain Integration Project (CHIP) has worked with over 20 brands to prove the viability of blockchain as a common platform for supply chain data sharing, using real data provided by some of the brands. Blockchain allows all parties to have control over what data they share and with whom. The research, focused on solving a $181 billion industry problem, leveraged over 200,000 products across 12 different supply chain nodes. The results were positive, and the participants are now focused on economics of making this a new reality for the industry.

Another example of emerging technology, specifically Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence working to improve a cross-industry challenge is Trust Your Supplier. Trust Your Supplier is a global business network focused on digitizing the relationship between Buyers (e.g., Procurement Organizations) and Suppliers (e.g., vendors, partners). This network is focused on facilitating the Supplier On-boarding process, including collection of critical data to help the Buyer evaluate the Supplier in terms of risk to the organization and its supply chain.

The Trust Your Supplier network helps companies to transform this process, which today is still often email, text documents and spreadsheets. Additionally, the deployment of Artificial Intelligence and other tools help to automate evaluation and qualification, focusing efforts where risk is identified instead of on mundane, non-critical information. This network is bringing trusted, secured, and verified data into the transactions between these companies providing significant benefit to all participants.

Today, the Trust Your Supplier network has over three dozen global Buyers and thousands of Suppliers representing over 70 countries and the numbers are growing daily. The benefits of a larger ecosystem are critical in this network. With an increasing number of relationships within Trust Your Supplier, the greater the benefits are across the ecosystem for all participants.

The biggest question for leaders is how can a blockchain-based digital transformation improve your procurement team’s day-to-day operations, increase trust in the quality of your products, strengthen your supply chain, and reduce risk in your organization. Learn more about blockchain’s array of use cases in digital transformation here, or reach out to Chainyard to discuss how it could fit in to your own strategy.

Chainyard, a digital transformation consulting specialist, has deep experience with blockchain consulting, cloud migration consulting, DevOps consulting, artificial intelligence consulting, machine learning consulting, user experience consulting, cybersecurity consulting, web portal development, mobile application development, and IT operations management.

Digital Transformation with IoT: A smart & connected meeting room solution built with a variety of digital technologies.

Our client, as part of various digital transformation solution initiatives, embarked on creating a collaborative and productivity-enhancing workspace solutions with IoT devices, cloud and data which will significantly transform workspaces across different office campuses. The primary challenge that the client wanted to address was “underutilization of meeting rooms and conference halls”. Chainyard, as a development partner, helped the client in developing a hardware-driven IoT and cloud-based meeting rooms management solution that provides a centralized & connected hub device in each meeting room.

The transformation solution maximized the utilization of meeting rooms, optimized the size & number of rooms, and enabled increased collaboration & communication between teams.