Supply chain innovation with blockchain
Optimising supply chain management provides several tremendous use cases for blockchain applications. Below is a quick summary of two very informative blockchain discussions on supply chain transformation that provide some useful overviews across different industries and various aspects to ponder.
Here are some of my highlights.
What is the minimum viable tracking unit? This may seem straightforward when looking at physical packaged products (e.g. wine bottles), but gets trickier when dealing with raw materials such as mined ores.
It’s not just about tech and outside competition. Getting stakeholders on board inside large enterprises requires a solid business case and clear communication. An intrapreneurs’ challenge.
Consumer supply chain apps can be strong marketing tools, as they potentially increase meaningful customer interactions. This can reduce other marketing expenditure.
The user interface and experience are key to adoption! Important questions to ask when choosing the right device and designing the UI are:
- Who is the target user?
- What do they want?
- At what stage of the user journey are they?
Bear in mind that blockchain caters not only for consumer trust, but also areas such as regulatory compliance, tax or inventory management.
Efficiency gains can be enormous. Reduction of admin processes from hours to minutes may be possible. This means stakeholders can be paid quicker. Cost savings may be passed on to suppliers, e.g. participating farmers, which in turn creates incentives for them to stay in the network and for others to join. We’ll see more and more ‘middlemen’ being cut out unless they add value that the blockchain doesn’t cover.