The World Economic Forum (WEF) released a report on Tuesday, which mentions a blockchain toolkit to revolutionize a fragmented global supply chain and proposed that it is one of those sectors that are in dire need of modernization.
Blockchain is prized for its ability to authorize, store publicly, and circulate transaction details in an encrypted form. And because it can drastically reduce manual intervention and enhance traceability, the global supply chain industry has been one of its early adopters.
From retailers like Walmart and Nestle to shipping industry giants like Maersk, blockchain has found several use cases so far. Unfortunately, though, a research conducted by Gartner earlier this year suggested that the technology will fail to leave a lasting impression on the global supply chain at least until 2022.
Global supply chain needs reviving, now!
However, a recent report by WEF says that amid the global health and economic crisis, the broken supply chains need fixing now and, perhaps, have no time to wait. Precisely for that reason, the blockchain deployment kit will help government and supply chain entities to integrate the technology and modify their logistics infrastructure to suit the needs of the economic climate post-COVID 19.
According to the WEF, blockchain technology is the only way to fast track the economic rebound and get the severely affected global supply chain back on track.
The report states that the coronavirus pandemic has put the resilience and flexibility of the private and public supply chains to test. Pharmaceutical and food and beverage sectors are among the ones which have been hit hardest.
Because the distributed ledger technology (DLT) is based on the idea of shared transparency, where every party involved in a supply chain is up to date and informed, the global supply chain needs it now more than ever.
WEF encourages blockchain adoption
Thus, the WEF-backed “Redesigning Trust: Blockchain Deployment Toolkit” encourages global leaders to embrace blockchain-based logistics solutions, which will eventually result in optimizing the benefits and mitigating the risks.
The revolutionary toolkit, which was under the research and development stage for over one year, has seen the involvement of some of the prominent industry leaders in the supply chain such as Maersk, Deloitte, World Food Program, and even World Bank.
Nadia Hewett, from WEF USA, says that the blockchain deployment kit not only designs solutions for bigger supply chain players but also encourages the involvement of small-scale players. They otherwise do not have the resources and expertise to exploit the power of blockchain truly. And that’s what makes it a life-saver for the global supply chain market.
