Gartner: blockchain initiatives to pilot until 2022

New Gartner research has found that 80% of supply chain blockchain initiatives are set to remain at proof-of-concept (POC) or pilot stage until 2022.

The research and advisory firm has revealed that one of the biggest reasons for the development is that early blockchain pilots for supply chain pursued technology-orientated models have been successful in other sectors, such as banking and insurance.

“Modern supply chains are very complex and require digital connectivity and agility across participants,” commented Andrew Stevens, senior director analyst with Gartner Supply Chain practice. “Many organisations believed that blockchain could help navigate this complexity and pushed to create robust use cases for the supply chain. However, most of these use cases were inspired by pilots from the banking and insurance sector and didn’t work well in a supply chain environment.”

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It is thought that blockchain use cases require an alternative approach for supply chain than other sectors, and shouldn’t discourage supply chain leaders from experimenting with blockchain. 

With technology having an increasing influence over how firms operate their supply chains, a technology-first approach that targets blockchain infrastructure was the initial idea for use cases in supply chain, replicating the approach of the banking and insurance industry. However, in comparison with the highly digital-only fintech blockchain use cases, many supply chains will need to capture events and data across physical products, packaging layers and transportation assets. It’s important that supply chain leaders understand how these events can be digitalised for sharing across a potential blockchain-enabled ecosystem of stakeholders.

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