If you’ve recently gone shopping and noticed an empty shelf where your preferred cereal or ice cream is usually stocked, you know that the world’s supply chain is experiencing some significant problems.

The world’s supply chain has always been a sensitive and convoluted system, which has just recently been made more difficult by a persistent pandemic and a conflict. Approximately 60,000 cargo ships transport about 90% of the world’s goods by sea. 24,000 containers are carried by the largest cargo ships. It is easy to comprehend why anything from the microchip in the gadget you are reading this on to the coffee you drank this morning can be lost or delayed when viewed at that scale.

Long before the COVID-19 outbreak, supply chain issues existed. Businesses have invested in information technology over the past few decades, which has improved the movement of commodities globally. Global supply chains have become more effective because of IT investments in ERP systems, EDI exchanges, and standards like ISO 9001. But there is still work to be done, as the modern consumer can confirm.

Supply chain agility and adaptability

Up to 80% of crucial business data currently resides outside the gates of an organization. Too many parties try to coordinate their transactions utilizing disjointed systems that don’t effectively interact, including suppliers, production facilities, distributors, and wholesaler dealers. This position raises several issues because each of these companies needs crucial, precise, and timely data about the products they’re trading and knowledge of any incidences that can negatively affect their supply chains, clients, or particular brands’ reputations. Companies often suffer new backlogs and information breakdowns due to the increased complexity of the global supply chain and the strong interdependence between suppliers and manufacturers. As a result, empty shop shelves and diminished earnings are among the unavoidable consequences.

Sustainability and visibility are already requirements for modern supply chain IT solutions. However, as multi-level supply chains with global reach become more common for businesses, there is a new and urgent emphasis on supplier adaptation and supply chain agility due to the expanding issues faced by multi-level suppliers and the need for increased information flow in the global economy. Multi-level supply chains of today need technology solutions that give all stakeholders better visibility into the flow of goods and the mechanics of the supply chain from beginning to end. Without this visibility, companies won’t be able to comprehend present and anticipated disruptions and possibilities to prevent or reduce disruptions.

Upcoming blockchains

One approach to addressing supply chain coordination challenges is the development of next-generation blockchains, which mix blockchain and cloud technologies. The value of blockchain is found in the opportunity it provides parties to swiftly and securely transfer data in a decentralized manner. Similar to how end users of a retailer like Amazon can track orders and shipments, businesses can use blockchain technology to track freight.

Consider a retailer of fine chocolate who wants to know specifics about their goods, such as when new stock will arrive, whether it was heated past its melting point while in transit and whether the cacao beans were ethically and sustainably produced. This end-to-end perspective of a chocolate bar can only be developed and sustained by bringing together divergent data from many stakeholders, including cocoa bean farmers, product transporters and warehouses, production, logistics, and retailers.

Also Read: Blockchain transforming global supply chain

Advantages Of Blockchain As Supply Chain Command

The following characteristics of next-generation blockchains are advantageous to supply chain tracking:

They effortlessly integrate the entire ecosystem because they are SaaS-based.

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) is a standard delivery method for next-generation blockchains, which eliminates the need for human infrastructure deployment, scaling, security, maintenance, and payment. By its very nature, SaaS links all partners in a value chain, ensuring complete authenticity and provenance and ensuring that everyone in the ecosystem has the same accurate and comprehensive picture, from raw materials to completed product retail delivery.

They prioritize compliance, security, and privacy.

Using straightforward permission mechanisms, next-generation blockchains and distributed ledgers provide out-of-the-box solutions for data privacy, making it simple for data producers to control who can read or alter their data. Businesses must be able to enforce (and audit) who has access to their mission-critical business data since so many parties are engaged and so much real-time data about the supply chain is being created and consumed. These issues become considerably more urgent if antitrust or competition laws are involved.

They are economical and energy-conscious.

The environmental effect of proof-of-work systems is avoided by next-generation blockchains, which also profit from multi-tenanted cloud architectures and can pass these cost savings (and reductions in carbon footprint) on to users.

Must-face difficulties

Supply chain monitoring must be overcome for organizations to have real-time data about the location, status, and quality of the items flowing across those chains and better understand a particular good’s manufacturing and demand fulfillment. When businesses have this degree of real-time detail, they not only have the vital data they need to run their operations successfully, but they can also provide superior services and client experiences.