Right now, finding solutions to the problems of the global economy after the pandemic is crucial. That is why experts from around the world have advocated “getting out of the box” to achieve it. Thanks to this, the World Economic Forum expressed that Blockchain technology and digitization can help supply chains in times of crisis.
The World Economic Forum speaks
Ziyang Fan (Head of Digital Commerce at the WEF) and Rebecca Liao (Executive Vice President of Skuchain) gave some comments on the crisis. The publication said that this pandemic has forced many companies to deal with the unexpected fragility of their supply chains.
In a supply chain, companies usually only know the history of suppliers close to them. So they have no way of knowing if those higher up are affected by crises until it affects them.
Given this, Fan and Liao wrote that Blockchain technology would add transparency without sacrificing corporate privacy. A properly constructed Blockchain system would provide broader access to relevant parties. Also, it would allow them to have supply chain data from their upstream suppliers.
Advantages of using Blockchain for transparency in supply chains
With Blockchain technology, it could be ensured that performance and risk data can be authentically shared with the other parties to a transaction.
This data supports all financial transactions within any supply chain and, by using Blockchain, they could know them even when there is no direct relationship between the members of that chain.
Record digitization is Fan and Liao’s other partial solution to this crisis. For one thing, digitized supply chain records are much more accessible than paper copies. The latter is even more necessary nowadays, when there are closed offices and orders to stay home.
Finally, they concluded that the first digital companies and the governments that take advantage of them are dealing with disruptions in supply chains much better than those without.
For now, not only the World Economic Forum has spoken about the possibilities that this pandemic opens for innovation and the application of alternatives such as Blockchain technology. Many analysts and economists contemplate alternatives in this field.
