Improving the supply chain is one of the best ways for any business to cut down on its operational costs while speeding up its delivery of goods or services to customers around the world. Naturally, companies everywhere have thus invested huge sums of time, money, and effort into improving the supply chain through any means possible. Lately, improvements to the supply chain have been derived heavily from blockchain technology, which will continue to prove important for years to come.
Here’s how blockchain will improve the supply chain, and how companies everywhere are already tapping into its power to optimize their operations.
Blockchain’s applications are nearly limitless
Perhaps the most impressive thing about blockchain technology is that its applications are nearly limitless, given that it can disrupt nearly any industry. Transportation and logistics in particular stand to be upended by the introduction of blockchain technology to the supply chain, given that it can digitize operations which are currently paper-based and thus prone to error and delay. Transportation companies can rely on blockchain to forge smart contracts with their customers, for instance, which will improve the speed of negotiations and make sure that all parties in an agreement are updated the moment a contract is completed or altered in some way.
Blockchain-based platforms will also allow transportation companies to better coordinate the sharing of information and vital documents with their valuable customers. As blockchain’s influence on the transportation industry continues to grow at a breakneck pace, we can expect the supply chain in a diverse set of economic sectors to become upended by the introduction of this impressive technology. The benefits of tapping into blockchain for logistical purposes aren’t being lost on private businesses everywhere, which are teaming up with one another to provide blockchain-based solutions to age-old supply chain problems.
Redwood Logistics recently issued a press release detailing the company‘s acquisition of Strive Logistics, for instance, detailing the way that the truck broker is partnering with a multimodal logistics provider to prove that two brains are better than one. We’ll see many other companies follow in Redwood’s footsteps as time goes on, especially as a collaboration between private enterprises will become increasingly important to the continued development of scalable blockchain technology that’s usable by a wide range of businesses.
If blockchain technology is going to become truly central to the future of the supply chain, however, we need better standardization practices. On that front, there’s good news to unpack ¦
Blockchain becomes standardized and scalable
Organizations like the Blockchain in Transport Alliance demonstrate that blockchain technology has advanced to the point where it’s becoming standardized and scalable. The supply chain can only be disrupted by innovations which aren’t unique or useful to anyone business “ for the entire supply chain to become impacted by new technology, it must be applicable to a wide array of business scenarios so that a diverse set of companies can adopt it. Blockchain, far from being limited to your bitcoin wallet, is about as diverse as it gets, which means that other organizations like the BiTA will spring up in the near-future to meet the growing demand for blockchain-related organizations and expertise.
SAP has also recently announced that it’s working with a wide array of pharmaceutical companies to create an automated blockchain supply chain tracking system that it hopes improves the trust people have in the drugs and food they order. SAP’s ambitious effort to leverage the power of blockchain for good is important because it demonstrates how transparent a technology blockchain is, an important thing to champion in the digital era where consumers are worried about data breaches and misleading information online.
Blockchain will continue to disrupt the supply chain in other ways we can’t even yet imagine, too, so don’t think this technology is going anywhere anytime soon. As blockchain services become more powerful, the supply chain of the future will become more transparent and efficient than ever before.