Blog post -

Blockchain: The Technology Reshaping Supply Chain Management

Growing global complexity in supply chain management has forced organizations to look towards technology as their silver bullet; serving as the missing link between people (supply chain actors) and the ability to collaborate at scale.

Blockchain technology is one of the most hyped amongst the currently developing technologies, hypothesized to make one of the greatest impacts in supply chain management — especially procurement and logistics — in the coming years. If SCM tech were a summer reading list, Blockchain would be the Twilight trilogy.

Simply put… Blockchain is on the brink of a majorly blowing up, and everyone wants to see what the hype is all about.

It was reported in mid-June by Zion Market Research that global “blockchain technology in supply chain management market was valued at around USD 40.99 million in 2017 and is expected to reach approximately USD 666.61 million by 2024, growing at a CAGR of 49.16% between 2017 and 2024” (globalnewswire.com 2018).

Hypotheses are coming to fruition, and technology vendors everywhere are looking to eat up their slice of that blockchain pie, as supply chain professionals begin to accept the value of blockchains’ applications within their organizations.

The decentralized/distributed ledger infrastructure excites transparency and traceability buffs, creating a even playing field for trusted data, accountability and streamlined governance. For this reason, blockchain technology has been viewed as the perfect match for business application within procurement and logistics.

Blockchain technology won’t just enhance the way procurement and logistics professionals work today; it poses the ability to reshape the functions entirely.

Blockchain in Logistics

“Achieving excellence in logistics involves working collaboratively with others to optimize the flow of physical goods as well as the complex flow of information and financial transactions” (Gockel et al. 2018 p. 12).

Understanding the complexity of logistics, and keeping in mind the non-localized nature of today’s global supply chain, sets the scene for how difficult achieving logistics excellence can be in today’s new risk reality. This poses the question to logistics professionals on a daily basis: how does one continue to unlock value in logistics?

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Topics

  • Computers, computer technology, software

Categories

  • blockchain
  • sustainability
  • supply chain management
  • supply chain
  • supplier relationship management
  • business

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