Understanding Digital Transformation and Blockchain’s Applications
Digital transformation was already a hot topic before 2020.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and companies depended on technology to adapt, digital transformation took on even more importance. It went from being an abstract idea or long-term goal to something that companies needed to make major strides toward immediately. Many months later, the transformation plan (or transformation itself) should be well underway.
So what should this plan include? That depends on the digital transformation strategy a company adopts. Each one will mix and match different hardware, software, cloud, and tech-driven capabilities to serve its own business interests. In most cases, though, digital transformation will involve a panoply of emergent technologies that have, in large part, either come online or reached maturity just in the 21st century: Advanced robotics, artificial intelligence, internet-connected devices, 3D printing, 5G wireless, and autonomous vehicles are some of the best-known examples.
Global spending on technologies and processes related to digital transformation topped $1 trillion in 2020 after growing nearly 18% in 2019. Spending has been and will be robust now that so many solutions that looked promising in the past are becoming commercially viable on a large scale. Also driving digital transformation is the never-ending need to improve operational efficiency — something the latest generation of technology excels at. Finally, the fact that early adopters have proven the value of tech like AI or IoT makes holdouts willing to try new things.
Companies serious about using digital transformation to their advantage should consider blockchain’s use cases. Although it’s not as flashy as other technologies (such as an autonomous robot), blockchain applications have the potential to transform industries more than any other solution. In doing so, they could also help companies that currently lag behind the competition and struggle to gain market share leap ahead of others. This highlights the extent to which digital transformation driven by blockchain isn’t just a tech initiative — it’s at the core of the business model and strategy.
Blockchain technology has applications in almost any business, but there are certain environments where a shared ledger is particularly advantageous. Some startups are building forward-thinking products and services around blockchain applications, often using tokenization, decentralized finance, and identity. Other more mature companies are discovering enterprise use cases for blockchain that help organizations become more efficient, productive, agile, or insightful.Given what blockchain applications can and will do, it’s no surprise that a majority of respondents to a Deloitte survey (55%) consider blockchain a top priority. More surprising is that 83% of respondents worried their company would lose competitive advantage if it didn’t adopt blockchain. The case for this technology is compelling, especially in the era of digital transformation. The lingering question for many organizations is how to make use of this technology for real-world applications, and the remainder of this post provides some guidance.
Blockchain Use Cases
Blockchain ledgers come in many forms and accomplish countless objectives. In fact, their flexibility explains why questions still linger about what, exactly, blockchain does. Below, we map out a few blockchain use cases that illustrate the deep impact it can and will have on adopters.
Digitizing Asset Management
Companies like IBM own countless hardware and software assets that power offices around the world. However, tracking these assets across global supply chains and through their entire life cycle (from manufacturing to deployment and finally to disposal) represents a seemingly insurmountable challenge that countless producers in technology and other industries struggle with.
However, tracking and managing them at scale throughout their entire life cycle is no longer a distant possibility — it’s now a reality. And with the advent of blockchain asset management tools, it’s not even particularly challenging.
So how does all of this work?
Put simply, every asset receives an entry in the blockchain ledger that’s updated whenever the asset moves elsewhere. The ledger becomes a single source of truth for everything relevant to asset management, whether that’s an item’s location, condition, or destination. Supply chain partners also contribute to these decentralized blockchain ledgers, as it improves their own product management efforts.
In general, digital transformation strives to improve efficiency by using tech to eliminate friction points and information deficits. When it comes to asset management, blockchain applications accomplish exactly that by integrating everything and everyone in one place. Those applications rely on four primary components — a shared ledger, peer consensus, smart contracts, and privacy — to create an automatic paper trail behind assets that everyone trusts.
IBM is already experimenting with blockchain’s applications in supply chain management — as will many others. As the supply chain undergoes digital transformation, anticipate blockchains (and the expectation to participate in them) to become the standard.
Streamlining Payments and Invoicing
We live in a world of electronic payments, but a startling 80% of companies still pay invoices with paper checks. Of course, an analog payment process slows things down for all involved and leads to more errors along the way. Still, old habits die hard, and many companies still feel more confident dealing with paper checks than they do relying on the various digital B2B payment tools available to them.
A blockchain ledger could finally push things in the other direction. With a shared ledger, two sets of payment records condense into one: Eliminating the back-and-forth part of the payment process with blockchain helped one company reduce its invoice rejection rate from 9% to 0.5%, for example.
In another instance, global bank HSBC leveraged the efficiency of blockchain ledgers to process upwards of 3 million foreign exchange transactions in one year. A vast accounts payable and receivable industry exists to handle payments, and blockchain could support, supplement, or replace much of the work that accounting departments handle, all while improving the results. That’s exactly what digital transformation strives to do.
In addition to automating the core mechanics of the payments process, blockchain ledgers can keep the process itself from breaking down. For example, when a shipment arrives incomplete, incorrect, or damaged, blockchain can quickly amend the invoice in a way that both parties agree upon. The involved parties don’t spend weeks or months resolving a payment dispute — because a blockchain ledger does the same thing instantly (and largely automatically). Given how perfectly suited blockchain is for digital B2B payments, digital transformation around payments appears to be just around the corner.
Improving Supply Chain Management
Global supply chains create as many issues and inefficiencies as they solve. Relying on hundreds or thousands of partners and suppliers located around the world leads to frequent breakdowns in a supply chain that’s supposed to run like clockwork. Blockchain technology prevents supply chain issues in many cases and minimizes damage when it can’t. In the same way that it’s the ideal solution for a vast, complex payment system, blockchain’s supply chain management promises to turn persistent supply chain issues into rarities.
It does so by eliminating the paperwork that’s still common in supply chain management. Instead of stakeholders scribbling down figures, soliciting signatures, and shuffling around documents, everything happens inside a shared ledger. Using blockchain for supply chain transparency yields such excellent results that the participants share (and trust) the same information instead of keeping independent records multiple times over. Disputes, delays, and defective products have fewer consequences and a faster path to resolution when a blockchain ledger is embedded into the core of the process.
On a wider scale, producers that can harness blockchain in their supply chain management have a powerful forecasting and fulfillment tool at their disposal. Shared information between suppliers, producers, and purchasers leads to better demand forecasts. Likewise, it streamlines logistics: All partners know what arrived when and where, as well as the condition it’s in.The need for privacy and security have always been obstacles in a global supply chain that runs on partnerships and predictability. Blockchain technology bridges that gap by making important nonsensitive information visible but immutable, all while keeping sensitive data private. It’s almost like having an independent auditor who tracks everything happening in the supply chain objectively, automatically, and without stopping. In this way, stakeholders get a transparent view of what’s going on and can align their efforts for shared benefit.
How to Implement Blockchain Into Your Digital Strategy
Like any other process change,implementing blockchain in supply chains, payments, or any other aspect of operations takes a clear strategy. Advantageous as blockchain might be, a tool is only as strong as the person using it and the purpose it’s carrying out. Blockchain adoption could be the highlight of digital transformation — but without proper planning, it risks under delivering. With that in mind, consider these points in your blockchain implementation quest:
Three examples of areas where blockchain is an obvious choice for consideration are:
There are also some areas where blockchain isn’t a good fit. Two examples include:
Act Boldly With Blockchain
It’s hard to overstate the potential of blockchain. After all, it’s something with the potential to improve sweeping aspects of operations while creating opportunities to revolutionize the business model and strategy from the core of the organization outward. If the digital transformation road map is about turning companies into something totally new and definitively better, blockchain can make a significant impact.
It’s no wonder why Gartner thinks blockchain will create over $176 billion in business value by 2025 before skyrocketing to $3.1 trillion by 2030. And the blockchain use cases outlined above are hardly the only areas where distributed ledgers will elevate expectations; areas such as compliance, cybersecurity, and data-sharing will improve as well, to name just a few. Given what blockchain can do, it’s easy to see why it’s a critical component of any robust digital transformation framework.
Early adopters will reap the rewards of blockchain sooner and see them multiply over time. Holdouts won’t just miss the benefits of blockchain — they’ll also inhibit their own digital transformation efforts in many cases. Put yourself at the front of the pack by leveraging blockchain technologies early and to the fullest extent possible.
Want to learn more about ensuring a viable, realistic, and rewarding blockchain implementation within your own organization? Download our free whitepaper to get started.
This article was originally published on Forbes
The USPS is turning to their blockchain to strengthen democracy in the United States. Blockchain is being evaluated by the United States Postal Service as demonstrated by a recently published patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office that claims a combination of the security of the blockchain and the mail service can provide a reliable voting system.
Today, blockchain is driving a paradigm shift in the way businesses are thinking. Blockchain’s potential to transform many processes across most industries has been noticed by enterprise, government, and education leaders across the globe. Gartner predicts that blockchain will generate an annual business value of over US$176 billion by 2025 and in excess of US$3.1 trillion by 2030.
Where can blockchain be used for business? Does it replace our ERP system? Is there an easy way to identify blockchain for business use cases? This blockchain article explores some of the basic questions asked by leaders looking to apply blockchain to their businesses.
What is blockchain?
From a technical point of view, blockchain is a distributed ledger technology where every transaction (block of data) is stored across every network computer. Each block is added after reaching consensus among all the network members. More precisely, each block is appended only with a hash of the previous block and a timestamp. This combination gives blockchain platforms four core characteristics of immutability (tamper-proof), decentralization (peer to peer), consensus (integrity) and finality (transparency).
From a business point of view, blockchain is a trust protocol. The data is a single source of truth across members without the presence of a centralized official copy, eliminating the need for remediation we often see with today’s business processes. The immutability and transparency ensure provenance and traceability of changes. The decentralized nature enables a peer-to-peer sharing economy. Most importantly, smart contracts ensure immutable logic (a business contract), which is executed without human interaction as per the conditions and trigger agreed between the parties. Together blockchain enables trust by minimizing the amount of trust required from any one member in the network.
Can blockchain replace ERP systems?
The short answer is No. Blockchain shines well when there are multiple parties involved and there is a lack of trust among them. Most ERP environments are within an enterprise, where trust is not an issue so blockchain isn’t a full replacement.
However, the scenario changes drastically when enterprise ERPs start to integrate with organizations (partners, vendors, customers) outside the trust boundary of their supply chain. The untrusted data coming in from the supply chain can damage supply chain visibility, inventory projections, and trade relations. Blockchain is known for its potential to unite a large supply chain network using a decentralized network. Instead of each party in a supply chain network having their own version of data, the blockchain ensures single source of truth across all participants.
Industry is emerging in such a way that ERPs and blockchain will work together to strengthen the integrity and efficiency of supply chains. Trusted blockchain data will feed into the enterprise-specific ERP system for greater business insights. Similarly, production data from the ERP system will enrich the blockchain with information needed for the supply chain ecosystem.
Where can blockchain be used for business?
The blockchain use cases for business are immense particularly with removing the overhead costs associated with maintaining trust known as trust tax. The blockchain use cases fundamentally provide three opportunity pillars:
Based on the above pillars, the following are business patterns where blockchain shines:
To learn more about Chainyard’s blockchain consulting services and executive workshops email – [email protected].
Over the past several years, enterprise blockchain for business has seen noticeable attention from organizations outside of the cryptocurrency community. Gartner predicts that the business value added by blockchain will surge to exceed $3.1 trillion by 2030. In a recent Gartner Press Release nearly 40% of those surveyed globally have blockchain solutions in production. The benefits of blockchain continue to intensify the interest in enterprise blockchain for business. Savvy business owners can earn a share of the fortunes associated with these trends by following our top six enterprise blockchain adoption guiding principles.
People are learning that blockchain is changing the rules, and they need to get involved. As the technology matures, the blockchain platforms are becoming more reliable with improved security, privacy, and scalability. However, there are still more growing pains to overcome. To help address difficulties with communication and interoperability, InterWork Alliance was recently launched by an impressive group of organizations to standardize the interchange of tokenized value across use cases and networks. The establishment of decentralized governance is another challenge for enterprise blockchain consortiums, which are experimenting with various models to address the problem. Furthermore, laws throughout the world impacting blockchain deployments are inconsistent and in flux. According to the World Economic Forum, regulatory changes represent by far the most significant hurdle for blockchain innovators, as these changes are forcing early adopters to rework their implementations.
Experienced blockchain consulting companies, such as Chainyard, have successfully navigated through the complex journey of blockchain for business adoption and have deployed several solutions into production providing blockchain benefits to dozens of clients. Trust Your Supplier from IBM and Chainyard is one such example; It provides a trusted digital passport for suppliers to work with buyers in the network. The network already has more than two dozen Fortune 500 companies as buyers, numerous verifiers, many business networks providers, and thousands of suppliers.
To avoid the need for redesigning their blockchain solutions, and to overcome the numerous challenges and realize the benefits of blockchain, enterprise blockchain for business adopters can follow these top six guiding principles:
It is highly anticipated that blockchain technology will be a part of most businesses in the next five years. Some pioneering companies will be leaders, creating their own networks, and starting consortiums. Many more will be followers. Enterprises cannot afford to ignore this shift in business models due to distributed ledger technology. There is a myriad of decisions required of enterprises to navigate the fast-changing technology, and leveraging these guiding principles will facilitate a smooth journey.
To learn more about Chainyard’s consulting services and executive workshops, email – [email protected].
Gary Storr, Vice President of Commercial Solutions at Chainyard, presents a webinar to Hyperledger on Trust Your Supplier.
The original article can be found at https://www.hyperledger.org/learn/webinars/hyperledger-member-webinar-supplier-digital-passport-using-trust-your-supplier
This article was originally published on Silicon Angle
As the world becomes more digital as the coronavirus pandemic forces many to work remotely, companies and individuals need to share more and more data. This sharing can be more efficient if the data and the sources that provide it are confirmed, verified and trusted.
That’s why computing giant IBM Corp. is betting on blockchain as a solution for now –and for the future.
“Blockchain brings a platform for trusted data exchange while preserving privacy,” said Jerry Cuomo (pictured), vice president of blockchain technology at IBM Corp. and an IBM fellow. “And that provides a foundation to do some amazing things in this time of crisis.”
Cuomo spoke with Dave Vellante, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the IBM Think Digital Event Experience. They discussed the importance of blockchain in the digital world, as well as some applications of the technology during the coronavirus pandemic. (* Disclosure below.)
IBM was one of the first blockchain providers and has more than 1,000 customers now using its IBM Blockchain Platform, which is powered by The Linux Foundation’s open-source Hyperledger Fabric. Among these users, more than 100 have created production networks, according to Cuomo.
“It’s been great to see some of the proprietors of those networks now repurpose the network’s towards hastening the relief of the COVID,” he said.
One of the applications of blockchain during the pandemic has been to combat supply shortages. Because of the lockdown caused by the crisis, some suppliers were left without key goods, and buyers realized the need to expand the network of providers of these products very quickly. However, current laws and regulations can cause a new supplier’s integration into the network to take many weeks.
“In IBM, for example, we have over 20,000 suppliers to our business, and it takes 30 to 40 days to validate and verify one of those suppliers,” Cuomo said. “We don’t have 30 to 45 days … think about a healthcare company or a food company.”
To shorten this process, IBM used the Trust Your Supplier blockchain-based identity platform built by Chainyard Supplier Management Inc.
“If they [suppliers] are part of the Trust Your Supplier network, and they’ve already onboarded to IBM, they’re well on their way to being visible to all of these other buyers that are part of the IBM network,” Cuomo explained. “And instead of taking 40 days, maybe it only takes five days.”
Another blockchain use case focuses on aggregating valid data to help authorities fight the pandemic. The idea is to tackle one of the main problems that scientists and researchers face when trying to map and contain the crisis, which is the lack of integration of verified data sources that can be used with confidence.
To help solve this problem, the IBM Blockchain team joined the MiPasa project, from enterprise-grade blockchain platform Hacera, in creating a verified data hub.
“With MiPasa being a data hub for verified information related to the coronavirus, [it is] really laying a foundation now for a new class of application that can mash up information to create new insights,” Cuomo explained. “Perhaps applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to really look not just at any one of those data sources, but now to look across data sources and start to make some informed decision.”
A third application of blockchain in this pandemic is for digital identity verification. “You’re working remotely; you’re using tools like Zoom; there’s a huge spike in calls and online requests from telehealth or government benefit programs,” Cuomo said. “So, this is all happening and everything behind the scenes is: ‘Is this user who they say they are?’”
The Verified.Me solution by SecureKey Technologies Inc., which runs on IBM Blockchain, aims to facilitate identity verification. It allows users, through a mobile application, to invite institutions to represent and verify them. Users control their own information and the terms and conditions under which it will be used.
“The provider doesn’t know who the requester is, requester doesn’t know who the provider is — that is double blind. And then the network provider doesn’t know either,” Cuomo explained. “But somehow trust is formed, and that’s the magic of blockchain, allowing that to happen.”
This article was originally published on due.com and republished on NASDAQ
To everyone’s great frustration, the course of COVID-19 and its enduring economic impacts look unpredictable. As companies rush to aid the COVID-19 response or fight to keep their doors open, they require trust in suppliers and partners and transparency into supply chains and contractual obligations. Luckily, blockchain excels on both fronts.
The article suggests three strategies to effectively add blockchain to your own recovery effort.
Real-time insight into a volatile and uncertain supply chain is never simple, and with the challenges of the current global situation, IBM harnessed the Trust Your Supplier blockchain-based identity platform built by Chainyard™ for qualification and identification, in conjunction with its existing Sterling Supply Chain Suite and highly scalable Inventory Visibility microservice to deliver this increased visibility.
This article was originally published at Linkedin
The Covid-19 pandemic has caught the entire world by surprise causing widespread destruction in the public health care apparatus including sickness and death, disruption of the economy and the global supply chain, and the everyday way of life of the common individual. No one would have imagined that hand sanitizers and masks would become an essential items to stock at home or carrying vast supplies of face masks and ventilators at hospitals. It also revealed that reliance on one single country as the intermediary and sole source for all the supply chain needs can bring entire companies to a standstill.
The disruption in supply chain has given rise to fraudulent enterprises dumping fake products into the market, price gouging of basic essential items and creating an artificial shortage of groceries, food and essential commodities. A bustling and vibrant economy like the United States has been brought to its knees in a span of a few weeks with soaring unemployment at over 6 million and a government bailout in trillions of dollars.
Not all is bad as the pandemic has had some positive side effects too. The air quality across the globe has improved. Beijing has seen clear blue skies after many years, residents of Jalandhar in India were given incredible views of the Himalayan Dhauladhar range not seen in many decades, the importance of sanitary habits and keeping the environment clean has been realized by many populations and the honking of vehicles has dimmed to give one the melody of chirping music.
I have been watching all the daily White House briefings, plenty of news, thousands of WhatsApp forwards, and reading many articles about the crisis. The focus of this blog is on what are the possible post-Covid-19 impacts and the role of technology, including how Chainyard is contributing. With every crisis, there is new opportunity as many have written. Ali.com, JD.com, Uber, Venmo, Netflix, Airbnb, Groupon have all been born during down turns.
In my opinion a few key technology areas that include Blockchain, AI/ML, Hybrid Mobile Apps and IoT will play a significant role in shaping the post pandemic decade. As the economy readies to reopen, we are already seeing some changes. For example, Emirates is requiring passengers to have blood tests as a requirement, while some governments are contemplating proof-of-immunization to go back to work or get entry into public facilities.
Let us briefly explore how technology is or will play a role in future.
The blockchain provides key capabilities such as
Several solutions that leverage self-sovereign digital identity, track and trace, and supply chain are already in development or existing solutions are being modified. Chainyard, IBM, Evernym, VitalHub, Emerge, Nym, Public Health Blockchain Consortium, Hyperchain, SpreadLoveNotCorona, Mediledger are few of the companies that are engaged in blockchain based solutions. These include anything from contact tracing, distribution of donations, securing individual privacy and traceability of pharmaceutical products in the supply chain. Self-sovereign identity will play a key role where individuals will be responsible for managing their identity and claims, and providing proofs to substantiate them.
AI is being used to sift through various past research on molecular compounds and their past behavior to identify potential cures. AI and chat-bots assist the public by answering questions about the Covid-19 testing and treatments, providing insights and making recommendations. They can be effectively utilized in tele-medicine, remote diagnostics, research on new cures and predicting future outbreaks and their mitigation.
AI has been successfully exploited to identify patterns in the spread and predict the impact of the Covid-19 virus by combining publicly available data, government and other private sources, social, hospital and GIS information. Many companies are offering dashboards and insights. Notable ones I have been following are Johns Hopkins, University of Virginia and SAS.
Claim-8, a company I got to know that has gone further by overlaying Covid-19 analytics including additional data generated by existing super-clusters of computation to develop indices and derivative products that generate human actionable outcomes to provide supply chain insights in addition to Covid-19 related dashboard information. MiPasa, an initiative kicked off by Hacera along with IBM and Oracle is aggregating data on a global scale from various sources to provide insights that enable a swift and more precise early detection of Covid-19 carriers and infection hot spots.
IoT devices can work in concert with Blockchain, AI and mobile technology to deliver a connected experience on a trust platform. I would not be surprised if the security scanners at airports such as magnetometers and x-rays are augmented to include healthcare sensors like digital infrared thermometers, or the enhanced fingerprint kiosks to additionally measure body temperature, conduct instant blood tests and perform contact analysis. Connected digital infrared thermometers combined with AI could provide visualizations about hot spots or emerging outbreaks and provide alerts to hospitals and patients. Ramco Systems has announced a solution that combines bio-metrics and temperature sensors. Sensors combining facial recognition, clock time and temperature are used to enable employee access to the workplace via the security doors.
Theseus from Emerge and Claim-8 from NewBureau are both working on supply chain solutions that track, trace, and optimize the global movement of goods to prevent fraud and counterfeiting. They combine QR tags, RFID, and smart sensors to achieve complete and near-real time visibility into shipments from manufacturer to final destination. Smart contracts validate data from sensors on cargo as the freight moves to detect violations of geo-fence, altitude, tilt, light exposure, acceleration, force, temperature etc. and send notifications about the shipment.
Wearable technology such as those from Oura or CloudMinds are being tested to understand the individual’s health and connect them to healthcare providers and other services. Robots have been deployed to sanitize public spaces, prepare and deliver food and monitor social distancing.
Drones have been able to conduct aerial surveys, deliver food and medicines, sanitize large areas and gather information to support analytics. Kazakhstan is using Terra Drone drones to patrol the capital city during the Covid-19 lockdown. According to a number of sources, Draganfly is working with healthcare data services firms and researchers across to deploy drones in Australia and the US. The proposed “pandemic” drone would be able to fly over people and identify their temperature and respiratory conditions, helping to limit infections.
People carrying digital wallets on their mobile phones to store credentials such as immunization records and virus testing results will become a norm. Quantum Materials Corp (QMC) has a blockchain based QDX HealthID for transparency in disease testing and immunization from infectious diseases. Combining tags using nano-particles which emit different colors when illuminated by light, they authenticate the the individual, the test administrator and test kit, and the immunization record. Chainyard, ProCredEx from HashedHealth, Evernym and many others are testing similar credentialing solutions.
If we were to categorize the areas of impact and what changes can be expected post pandemic era, it will probably look as below.
A specialized blockchain company, providing Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum based solutions to several Fortune 500 enterprises and our flagship solution “Trust Your Supplier” has already started transforming the way enterprises manage their procurement process. TYS is a joint venture between Chainyard and IBM.
In order to jump in and get involved with the Covid-19 crisis, the first thing we did was to help Miracle, a Volunteer Non-Profit Organization, extend a disaster management solution we had built earlier to have features that enable individuals to register for a Covid-19 test in the app at any of the registered centers within a certain radius to their location. The disaster management solution brought together volunteer organizations, volunteers, resource providers, distribution centers and donations together on a common platform to have efficient communication and distribution of services and goods. Obviously, there are so many families needing supplies such as soap, hand sanitizers, toilet paper etc. and with the lock-downs in place, it is indeed difficult to shop around.
In addition, we are testing another solution based on the Self Sovereign Identity and verifiable credentials protocol to issue or verify claims by individuals about their health. This can enable a number business and public facilities to allow individuals to work or enter public places. Users can simply present a QR Code of their claim that can be scanned by a Relying party to verify the claim and enable services.
Lastly, we are working on a solution that enables “Rapid Covid Response” along with our partners, leveraging our TYS technology that has been in production for quite some months now.
This article was originally published on Forbes.
IBM is turning to their blockchain networks to strengthen their supply chain. IBM Food Trust, TradeLens and Trust Your Supplier are being leveraged during the COVID-19 pandemic to source with trusted suppliers, purchase quality goods, and ensure on time delivery of goods.
