Fundamentally, supply chain management refers to the management of the flow of goods, products, and services, including data and finances. It covers activities from the procurement of raw materials to their manufacturing and delivery as products to the final destination. The activities also span across areas like procurement, product lifecycle management, supply chain planning, logistics, and order management. The SCM can also stretch to the processes for global trading, like the management of global suppliers and multinational production activities.
Benefits of Supply Chain Management System
Opportunities: With blockchain record-keeping solutions, all supply chain stakeholders can securely and simultaneously store and share this information. Tracking, transparency, and trustChallenges: It is difficult to track the source of flawed parts and trace the provenance of previously shipped products. Opportunities: Blockchain SCM can have a product’s entire geographic flow. It enables users to track products’ source and flawed components, investigate industry certifications, find storage-condition anomalies, etc. Real-time issue resolutionChallenges: Natural disasters and unplanned demand and supply often lead to faulty or delayed delivery, which affects the entire production. Opportunities: The delays involving weather or labor disputes are nearly unavoidable. However, blockchain-based SCM can provide solutions to resolve these issues in real-time. As per the occurred issue, it can instantly trigger actions like supplier substitutions or price adjustments. Use CaseAlice wants to buy a rare and costly medicine for cancer treatment from a medical store. The description on that medicine states that “store in dry or cold storage below 20-degree celsius, failing which makes it unusable.” The pharmacist stored the medicine according to the mentioned temperature as he had a proper setup at his store. However, what if the medicine has got misplaced during its journey from the production company to the medical store. Its effect will be lost if not preserved at the mentioned temperature. In this case, due to a lack of information tracking, Alice has no option except trusting that nothing happened during the process. In such scenarios, blockchain can provide efficient tracking solutions. Let’s assume that there is a microchip sensor (IoT chips) attached to the package of medicine. It records everything about it, from the manufacturing to its end users. At each step, stakeholders make transactions and update data regularly on a blockchain ledger. Alice can use her phone to scan the barcode on the medicine package to get every detail. She can use it to verify that, at any point in time, it was in a mentioned environment. Essentially, the integration of IoT with blockchain solutions solves supply chain management challenges like tracking and traceability. It provides the provision to verify the product, without trusting pharmacist or the process. Now, take a look at the following image to understand how a blockchain-based SCM solution enables information tracking of products. Additionally, blockchain technology provides the following advantages to SCM in a public or private network.
ConclusionAlthough blockchain technology is not the panacea for all the supply chain management challenges, it certainly provides some significant solutions that can maximize its efficiency. Traceability and tracking features can bring the required transparency and establish trust in the entire supply chain network. It can enable every participant to trace and track information of products from their provenance to end-users. In the next blog, you can check how a Hyperledger Fabric-based solution enables the seafood industry to enhance fisheries management with features like traceability and transparency. Author Bio: Oodles is a Hedera Hashgraph development company that provides Hedera Hashgraph based application development services to easily overcome the challenges of stability, security, performance, governance, and regulatory compliance.
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CIOs and CTOs from different industries believe that blockchain certainly has the potential to enhance and optimize business processes and operations. They think that it can revamp processes, governance systems, and value exchange for a variety of businesses and industries. Currently, the industries that are most open to adopting blockchain technology are Banking and Fintech. Using blockchain, they are looking to create faster and cheaper global trading gateways with no dependence on intermediaries.
Remodelling Traditional Banking with Stellar and Ripple BlockchainAt the core of this new banking revolution, there are two prominent blockchain platforms, Ripple and Stellar. These two blockchain platforms are bridging the gap between DLTs (distributed ledger technologies) and the existing financial architecture. Promoted as the “future of finance and banking,” Ripple and Stellar are creating blockchain based financial systems to address the problems the industry faces today. Ripple’s Roadmap: Revolutionizing the traditional banking system with decentralizationWhen Ripple was launched in 2013, its goal was to develop scalable, low-cost, and fast financial transactions processing solutions for banks globally. Surprisingly, after only one year of its launch, the blockchain startup bagged Fidor Bank as its first client. The Munich-based bank employed Ripple’s payment processing system for its regional and international customers. Since then, Ripple Foundation has been collaborating with numerous financial entities and banks to provide decentralized payment solutions. It has partnered with Arabs where it got approval for an international payment deal with UAE Exchange for implementing a decentralized cross-border payment solution. Also, the Saudi Arabia Monetary Authority, Arab’s central bank, has permissioned Ripple to enable regional banks to beef up their payment processing capacities. It has asked to revamp domestic and international payments through xCurrent, a Ripple blockchain-based cost-effective, and transparent remittance settlement solution. In November 2018, Ripple came into partnership with one of the prominent banks in Brazil called Bradesco. The cooperation enables the bank to execute seamless financial transactions within its 5,300+ branches and over 38,000 ATMs. The partnership also brings on the table the Brazil-Japan cross-border payment corridor, with industry giants like Mitsubishi and MUFG entering the pact. In October this year, 60 Japanese banks controlling over 80% of banking assets in the country agreed upon using Ripple’s Money Tap mobile app. Ripple is being tagged as the blockchain technology that is gradually taking over SWIFT and VISA. Indeed, it is apparent with Ripple’s rapid adoption by established financial institutions. At the beginning of 2018, Ripple had partnered with 75 banks that were using its DLT solutions. Some of them include IndusInd Bank, PNC Bank, Banco Santander, BBVA, Akbank, Bank of America, and Standard Chartered, among many others. Stellar’s plan to enter the traditional banking and financeStellar is a blockchain technology-based platform for providing fast, efficient and secure financial transactions. Stellar aims to advance global financial literacy, inclusion, and access by enabling fast and secure P2P (peer-to-peer) cross-border payment transactions. You may think that Stellar moves might through traditional banking out of business but this is not the case. Indeed, the Delaware-based company is looking to work together with the traditional financial and banking system. Instead of eliminating the processes and reinventing the wheel completely, it is focusing on collaborations with existing banks to realize its goals. During the Exponential Financial conference held in Johannesburg South Africa in 2016, the CEO of corporate and investment banking at Barclays Africa, Stephan van Coller, discussed how the finance giant is piloting a distributed ledger system with Stellar’s payments rails. The pilot program involved sixteen to eighteen years old students. It researches how smartphones can come in use as day-to-day payment solutions for the rapidly growing African population. Recently, in October 2017 Stellar partnered with IBM to create a Blockchain World Wire (BWW). It’s a distributed ledger system aimed to provide interbank transfers and cost-effective global payment systems. Since the launch, BWW is being considered as a SWIFT replacement in the global payment scene by some industry enthusiasts. Not only this but Stellar also partnered with Deloitte Digital Bank to create a state-of-the-art, cost-effective banking system for the financial domain. What established Stellar’s place as a Blockchain platform penetrating through traditional banking is its acquisition of Chain. Chain is a San-Francisco based blockchain based startup. Its work is to build distributed ledger technology solutions for the financial system. Apart from its powerful presence in this industry, Chain boasts of having prominent investors like Citi Ventures, Visa, and Nasdaq. Stellar’s aim is to create cost-effective, high-performance, and modern financial systems for both individuals and businesses. However, it aims to do with a slightly different approach. Instead of reinventing the wheel through decentralization, Stellar works together with the existing financial system to develop decentralized solutions that can serve the needs of today’s consumers. Concluding ThoughtsSignificantly, both the blockchain platforms have gained significant traction and established a stronghold in the digital payment solution space. Banks and financial institutions around the globe are developing payment solutions with Stellar and Ripple blockchain with an aim to increase efficiency and security in transactions. Author Bio: Oodles is a stellar blockchain development company that has considerable experience in developing solutions for financial institutions with payments systems and mobile wallets using Stellar Blockchain.We build fintech applications that provide fast, reliable,and low-cost payments with Stellar technology. Our Stellar app solutions range from simple smart contracts to complex payment infrastructures with point-to-point transactions Super Bowl is one of the major sporting events all over the US. It is all about celebrities and action-packed football games. There are other events as well that enable the sports industry to generate high-revenue from ticketing, merchandise sales, and promotions. According to reports, the global sports industry is currently worth $1.3 trillion. However, sports revenues are dropping rapidly as the number of fans who attend key sports events is decreasing. The introduction of blockchain technology in the sports industry can significantly resolve some of the major issues like ticket scalping, drug testing management, and enhancing fan engagement. Sports institutions can also improve athlete data analysis and sponsorship management more effectively.
Introducing Blockchain Technology in the Sports IndustryWith appropriate blockchain technology consultation, development, and implementation, the sports industry can gain benefits in the following ways. Sponsorship ManagementUndoubtedly, sponsoring sporting events is one of the effective mediums for athletes and sports institutions to generate significant revenues. Majorly, key brands use this method to gain popularity across geographies. Roughly, they spend hundreds of millions of dollars on sponsorships. For instance, in the 2018 soccer World Cup in 2018, brands have splurged up to 200$ million for a single sponsorship package. It can be quite complicated for sports institutions and brands to manage such large amounts. A blockchain and smart contract-powered p2p solution can provide an integrated solution that seamlessly connects sponsors with the rights holders. It can enable them to execute and manage transactions more efficiently with precise logs and cryptocurrency-based payment solutions. It will reduce the time taken in traditional processes from 3-4 months to 5-7 hours, and thus providing tangible benefits for all users. Ticket ScalpingIllicit ticket resale or scalping is one of the primary issues that create challenges for sports organizations. Uncountable sports fans become victims of ticket resale scams. For instance, last year at game seven of the NBA Western Conference championship between the Golden State Warriors and the Oklahoma City Thunder, 86 people couldn’t watch the game because the tickets they had bought from StubHub got rejected at the gate. While StubHub had a provision for a money-back, those people didn’t get to go to the game. Implementing blockchain technology in the sports industry can provide a solution by powering smart ticket platforms. A smart contract-based ticket platform can efficiently track and display the complete chain of custody of tickets to their buyers. Such a platform can also be programmed to set restrictions that allow buyers to purchase only a set threshold of tickets at a time. It can effectively lower the impact of scammers and bots that purchase tickets in bulk for resale. Securing Athletes’ Performance DataSports institutions deal in vast volumes of data to analyze athletes’ performance. Using this data, sports managers assess athletes’ performance and distinguish their strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, now wearables and IoT sensors installed in fabrics and insole provide more accurate information generated during athlete training. Simultaneously, data from such smart devices increase storage and security requirements. It means the collection, management, and sharing of athlete performance data get extremely complicated. However, blockchain based applications can provide the sports industry the solutions that can effectively augment data management, from collection to sharing. The blockchain-powered decentralized network can enable sports managers to store, manage, and share athletes’ data with other participants more securely than traditional means. It can also eliminate any chance for data alteration, breaches, and duplication of data. Not only this, but institutions can also implement authorization and authentication levels to verify users’ identity while restricting unauthorized users to access data. Hence, blockchain becomes a potential alternative that offers secure data storage and sharing platform. ConclusionWhile blockchain adoption is still in infancy, the opportunities for the sporting world seems promising. Key sports industry players need to understand that blockchain technology will become highly regulated in the future. However, they must start embracing blockchain solutions if they want to stay atop of their game. Author bio: Oodles is a smart contract development company. Our blockchain team holds knowledge and technical expertise to develop smart contract solutions for diverse industry use cases. Know more about our blockchain development services and explore how they can turn your business processes into growth enablers. Inefficiencies like high administrative costs, payment disputes, and tracking and traceability continue to paralyze logistics and transportation processes in any industry. It necessitates new technological innovations to address these challenges. One of them is blockchain technology that is capable of transforming businesses and services models of logistics and transportation with its applications.
Simplified Logistics Operations with BlockchainAfter gaining traction in different industries like finance and healthcare, blockchain is finding significant implications in the logistics industry. It makes logistics and transportation processes and operations more efficient by providing technology benefits in several ways. Operational EfficiencyBlockchain makes storage and sharing of transactions, contracts, and other documentation information secure and efficient with features like cryptography mechanisms, decentralization, and consensus methods. If logistics providers and other involved participants in a process use a blockchain platform to record information can achieve significant efficiency. Having a distributed and shared but immutable record database can save time and cost drained for manual documentation in processes with security. Use CasesCustom processes require manual reconciliation and paper documentation. Blockchain technology optimizes this process by storing all documentation on the database, including business-sensitive customs forms. Similarly, shipments undergoing multiple checkpoints can avoid documentation by showing only the required information digitally. It can and save time and cost significantly while increasing efficiency in delivery. Traceability of Information and ProcessesThe blockchain makes all the information, records and documentation transparent at every stage for network participants. Technically, in a supply chain setting, such information management can provide traceability to the movement (or flow) of goods from the production hub to its destination. With this increased visibility and accuracy, stakeholders in the chain can identify lags, tampering, delays, and fraud. This advantage of visibility establishes trust between other participants, with transparent delivery services and operations. Smart ContractsOne of the aspects of the blockchain, smart contracts are autonomous contracts. They self-execute tasks when preset conditions settle between two or more participants while storing information in the blockchain database. For instance, a client needs to make a transaction to a logistics provider upon the delivery of the shipment successfully. After the delivery, a smart contract can instantly perform the transaction to the logistics provider. It reduces the need for paper-based systems while eliminating the risk of delays and errors. Not only this but smart contract solutions can also reduce administrative costs by optimizing repetitive and unnecessary processes.administrative costs by optimizing repetitive and unnecessary processes. ConclusionBlockchain technology is a game-changer that promises to transform traditional ways in which logistics providers execute their services. It assists in streamlining the complex processes and saves time, cost and resources with efficiency and strengthened security. However, the successful implementation of blockchain technology in logistics requires a comprehensive understanding of its intricacies and applications. The blockchain team at Oodles possesses the requisite knowledge and skills to incorporate blockchain technology into business models. Connecting with our blockchain consulting and development team can provide you assistance in overcoming numerous logistics and delivery challenges of today and tomorrow. Medical professionals tend to take EHRs (electronic health records) as a necessary evil. They struggle to work with legacy, clogged, and slow EHR systems. They can’t quit using them as these systems have become a necessity. Essentially, EHRs aggregate patient data from different sources and enable physicians to make more informed decisions and provide the best possible care to patients. However, legacy EHRs systems are inefficient and clumsy. They miserably fail when it comes to data analysis, security, and interoperability, and giving patients access to their information. One technology that can address these pitfalls is already here. We are talking about the blockchain technology, a type of distributed ledger technology. At Oodles, our blockchain experts believe that blockchain is going to be the next go-to-technology in EHRs in the coming years. Here’s why they think so.
Blockchain Technology and EHRsBlockchain applications and solutions have already become the desired addition to several clinical and pharmaceutical operations. Health organizations are using them to establish end-to-end drug supply chain tracking, validate clinical trial results, and prevent health insurance fraud. Similarly, Blockchain implementation in EHRs can revamp several traditional data management standards and provide three new methods for tech-driven care delivery. Protection of EHRs, Including Personal Health InformationEnsuring data security is an almost inescapable challenge for healthcare providers with multiple ransomware threats, breaches, and APTs arising every year. EHRs are always at risk due to being the primary, centralized source of storage for most comprehensive patient information. Blockchain avoids security concerns with EHRs by providing two significant differences from legacy databases. First, it brings decentralization in the network and distributes data copies among several nodes installed across different locations. Second, it makes data immutable through encryption and cryptography mechanisms. It means nobody can modify or delete the information once stored on the blockchain while keeping it transparent to everyone. In any unauthentic or illicit attempt to change information, it can trigger necessary security protocols, and make the whole network to avoid or eliminate it. Data Control and Access in the Hands of PatientsPatients must have control over their health data. The increasing healthcare consumerism era turns this need into demand. Regulations like HIPPA and PHi restricts patients from accessing EHRs and limit their ability to review and share their data with other care team members. Blockchain can finally put patients in control of their data by enabling access to EHRs through a fine-grained permission system. It can provide a digital signature for each patient information block using a hash, a private key, and a public key, which acts as an authentic patient ID. With the addition of permission layers to these identities and blockchain APIs, patients can control and limit access to their data. They can choose what to share and what not, such as exposing only specific bits of information with a particular medical entity for healthcare. Streamlined Healthcare Information ExchangeUndoubtedly, EHRs systems in the current healthcare IT infrastructure lack efficient healthcare information exchange support. They become useless when patients need care from multiple healthcare providers from different health systems or a few facilities under one umbrella. During data transfer, providers generally print requisite information and send patients with loads of papers to another care team. Blockchain-powered EHRs enhance this situation by eliminating intermediaries from the process and keeping PHI secure yet auditable for authorized personnel. Consequently, other care team members get quick access to patient data, without revealing any personal or sensitive information. It assists them in preventing medical errors like duplicated tests, misdiagnosis cases, counterfeit drug interactions, and delayed care delivery. Will Blockchain-powered EHRs prove to be the Panacea?Presently, blockchain is a prominent technology capable of strengthening EHR systems and making it a full-fledged center of tech-driven care. Recent developments in the blockchain implementation for the healthcare industry signify that its adoption rate will likely increase. Startups have already begun investing in blockchain for mobile EHR apps for improved health care and provide data control capabilities to patients. If you’re looking to explore blockchain’s advantages in EHR management, connect with our blockchain team for insightful guidance. Bio: Oodles is a cryptocurrency development company having experience in different domains of cryptocurrency creation. We provide end-to-end scalable cryptocurrency solutions with fast transactions to clients globally. Our services enable the development of blockchain-based decentralized cryptocurrency solutions for a range of businesses.
The numbers of smart contract applications and use cases are increasing every day. Here are some interesting business areas where smart contract solutions are transforming the processes of industries like banking, insurance, real estate, supply chain, life science and health care, and more Digital identity Smart contracts solutions shift to replace the centralized model with a decentralized network of value exchange, thus, bringing the individual in control of their data, digital assets and so on. Users can determine what data they information they want to expose to contracts. Securities Smart contracts facilitate users to bypass intermediaries and third-party involvement when exchanging securities. Also, they automate the payment of dividends and management of obligations during the process. International Transactions Smart contracts make international payments quite convenient. They enable faster payment for a bargain with a guarantee. We also know it as a letter of credit too. Also, they assist the financial institution to increase and sustain the liquidity of assets. Commercial Operations Smart contracts can simplify the process of each commercial transaction with trust, transparency, and efficiency. In case of non-compliance with the quality and supply of goods, the vendor won’t receive money. Besides, he/she will need to pay the penalty for providing non-quality service. Financial data Financial organizations can streamline financial data by using blockchain smart contracts. It will help them combine and store all information in one distributed, permissioned ledger, as well as simplify information exchange between organizations. As a result, it will reduce costs for audit and enhance the financial reporting process. Mortgage Smart contracts can efficiently and securely automate the process of mortgage payments. Property transfer Smart contracts can enable people to transfer property without the risk of fraud and hack of any information. Goods supply With blockchain smart contracts, businesses can control and access the whole supply chain information of goods in real-time. They make it possible to record goods related transactions from the warehouse to the shelf of a store. Conclusion A smart contract can do much more than what this article explains here. However, it makes it significant that there are several areas of blockchain implementation in processes. Oodles is a smart contract development company. Our blockchain team holds knowledge and technical expertise to develop smart contract solutions for diverse industry use cases. Know more about our blockchain development services and explore how they can turn your business processes into growth enablers. |
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September 2019
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