Chain Business Insights, LLC, an independent research firm, released its first benchmark survey on blockchain in supply chain. The firm, which focuses on the application of blockchain in supply chain management and trade finance, states that the survey provides the current state of play of blockchain in the industry, and can be effectively monitored for change.
“Blockchain’s ability to maintain a tamper-proof, timely record of product movements and related transactions is of huge interest to supply chain practitioners,” says Sherree DeCovny, co-founder and research principal at Chain Business Insights. “It comes at a time when the industry is under intense pressure to deliver improvements in these areas.”
Blockchain is a distributed database that holds records of events and digital data that is tamper-proof, and approximately one-third of respondents are already implementing the technology. Many of those who took the survey indicated that the main reason they used blockchain was to improve supply chain transparency and traceability.
Surveyors believed these were the most important advantages of blockchain:
- Improves supply chain visibility/transparency
- Reduces transaction costs
- Enhances trust between supply chain partners
Other insights on the survey included:
- 40 percent reported that they plan to implement blockchain within the next year.
- One-fifth intend to implement the technology within two years.
- 30 percent have no idea when blockchain might be implemented and are still uncertain with the technology.
- Big data/analytics, loT, cloud computing and RFID were all listed by participants as technologies that will likely have an impact on supply chain management.
The original article appeared on Modern Materials Handling.