The analysts of the company believe that initiatives in this sector should re-focus on their solutions. The developers should digitize all the information on the supply chain.
In recent years, one of the business sectors most interested in developing blockchain solutions has been precisely the supply chain industry. However, what at first seemed to be a successful trend, today does not give favorable results. According to a study, conducted by the consulting and research firm specializing in information technologies Gartner, published in recent days, 80% of the blockchain initiatives in this area will remain in the pilot phase until 2022.
The analysts of the company note that a large majority of the projects will not pass the proof of concept (PoC) due to unfavorable approaches. The report indicates that these initiatives currently have work models that do not adapt to the needs of a supply chain. Most of these projects are inspired by solutions for banking and insurance, without taking into account key elements for the proper management of a supply chain.
Andrew Stevens, one of the analysts in charge of the report, explained that supply chains are business areas with complex communication systems. It should be noted that this sector covers the full range of activities and operations related to the sale of a product. Stevens believes that, before the creation of a solution, developers should devise a way to digitize all the data that compose the chain.
In consequence, a system for that sector should consider the registration of each of the events that occurred at the time of creating, transporting and selling a product. In the same way, the data of the products, as well as the information about their transportation and packaging, should be registered and digitized.
The analysts advise that companies re-focus on their projects while still experimenting with blockchain technologies. For this reason, they consider that it is necessary to first determine the key criteria of the ecosystem and its most pressing needs. If conducted in this way, the firm believes that companies will be able to generate products that satisfy and suit them indeed.
Gartner’s report refers to a sector that has led to plenty of discussions in recent years since several renowned brands have sought to implement blockchain platforms in their supply chains. For example, Mercedes Benz confirmed at the beginning of 2019 that it had successfully tested its blockchain-based solution. In line with the luxury car company, the world-renowned chains Target and Coca-Cola have also experimented with blockchain technologies in recent months.
However, the information provided by the consulting firm coincides with the results of a report from the University College London Centre for Blockchain Technologies (UCL CBT), which is based on the follow-up of 105 projects between November 2018 and January 2019. It was found in the study that, despite the benefits that blockchain technologies offer in the different supply chain processes, there are important challenges to be solved before their massive deployment.
By Alexander Salazar
