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Products like your favorite pair of jeans, shirts, shoes, and even snacks follow a supply chain and are tracked along every stop of it. From the creation of raw materials and production of these products to delivery and distribution, the entire supply chain processes can be very complex.
Fortunately for businesses that are having a hard time managing their supply chains, Blockchain technology is an easy solution that can help make supply chain processes and operations seamless and more efficient.
When most people hear the word Blockchain, they think about Bitcoin (BTC). While it’s true that Blockchain is the technology behind the most popular cryptocurrency on the web, Blockchain also has many other applications in many different industries.
Let’s look at what Blockchain technology is before we dive deeper into how this revolutionary technology can help with supply chain management.
What is Blockchain Technology?
Blockchain is a public ledger where each transaction is recorded as a “block” and the public ledger is distributed across networks of computer systems. “Blockchain” refers to a decentralized database and there is no central authority figure. Instead, it’s managed by many different participants. Interestingly, this technology brings with it lots of distinct and useful properties.
Countless transactions are recorded in the form of blocks and each transaction is individually encrypted, which means that Blockchain technology offers a level of security that no other way of storing or recording data can match.
Each transaction that is recorded is time-stamped, and once recorded, it cannot be altered, reversed, or modified by anyone. Being a distributed ledger that is accessible to a network, Blockchain technology allows each participant to access and have a copy of the ledger. This makes way for transparency without compromising on security.
Moreover, users can perform tasks, create applications, and run applications on a Blockchain, such as smart contracts..
While these benefits and features of this revolutionary technology sound too good to be true, you can get in touch with Blockchain consultants who will translate your business goals into technology roadmaps that you can easily follow to achieve target outcomes.
Now, let’s look at how these impressive features and Blockchain technology could revolutionize and improve supply chain management
Improved Traceability
The supply chain includes many different parties, organizations, or businesses and also resources and information. Moreover, sourcing of raw materials, planning, manufacturing, packaging, shipping, and distributing products are all included in the supply chain management process.
However, all of these hectic and tedious processes can be made much simpler with the help of Blockchain technology. Blockchain makes it easy to record information accurately and allows supply chain managers to improve the traceability or tracking of their products and all the transactions involved from start to finish.
Replace Manual Processes
Many businesses have already digitized most of these processes that form part of their supply chains. However, some of the processes that have existed for a very long time are still operating manually through paper and pen documentation. While this could still work for low-tier supply chains, slow and manual processes could cause a lot of inconveniences when it comes to handling larger and more complex transactions.
Blockchain technology takes it one step further even than digital technology, so small and large businesses can solve these problems with Blockchain distributed and reliable recording features.
Quick and Efficient Transactions
The decentralized nature of Blockchain means that the technology is not dependent on any third-party intermediaries, such as a financial institution or a bank. This allows the users or the parties involved to complete transactions almost instantaneously.
There is no need to wait for any central authority or a bank to confirm and process the transactions. Moreover, all the participants can view these transactions, making the supply chain more secure, accurate, and transparent.
Strong Reliability and Integrity
As mentioned above, the transactions which are recorded are time-stamped, and these transactions cannot be destroyed or modified by anyone. If you think about it, Blockchain technology actually makes it easier to save all the data for the supply chain.
Once the data is recorded and becomes part of the Blockchain, it will stay there permanently. Since all the participants can view these transactions, they’ll find the processes in the supply chain to be more reliable, and there will be no issues with transparency and legitimacy of records.
