Disruptive Growth of Blockchain and its impact on the logistics industry.

Blockchain is disrupting technology that is used in various industries nowadays. With huge popularity guarded by bitcoin, the application of Blockchain, Blockchain has become one of the best technologies and demonstrated several use cases. Various entrepreneurs nowadays are using and implementing Blockchain technology in their businesses. Well, the large number of opportunities are impressive.

Industries like logistics would get huge benefits after the implementation of blockchain technology since in the logistics industry, and several parties are involved for transportation of products and raw materials to customers. In the current scenario, the logistics Industry has vast issues related to product delivery. Since many times, it gets delayed, damaged, and this creates a huge issue. Hence with the use of Blockchain, all the issues like this would be solved, and it will become more secure.

Blockchain is considered to be useful because of its unique properties.

Blockchain technology promotes transparency and it optimizes the digital information in the ecosystem. All the different companies which are using blockchain have nothing to do with applications such as bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Blockchain has huge potential and it can be used in different industries to make unique solutions. It is the best technology for people who want to make digital data storage more transparent and want to improve their security.

Once such an industry where we can use blockchain in the logistics industry. Logistic industries do have several parties involved that do the transactions such as customers, manufacturers, auditors and suppliers. Well, if blockchain is used in the logistics industry then it will provide a large number of use cases and benefits.

Several Issues faced by the logistics Industry.

Several issues are faced by the transport and logistics industry, such as transparency. Customers don’t know about the product origin, and they are not able to track from where the product is coming. An inspection of a product costs a huge amount of money. 

In the current scenario, in most of the logistics companies, the process is verified manually using different sheets of papers. If in case one sheet destroys or gets misplaced, then there would be huge delay and problems. Transportation of goods is delayed many times.

There is a huge need for securing and authenticating data to improve all the logistics operations. In current systems, all the recording and information of data is given using EDIs and several APIs, which can be easily manipulated and misinterpreted. And it leads to problems in the supply chain globally.

What is Blockchain technology and how it can be useful for logistics Industries.

Blockchain technology is an emerging technology that originated from the mathematical branch called cryptography. It is one of the complex technology to understand, but the use cases are quite simplified. 

A blockchain technology prompts security, immutability and avoids the replication of digital ledger. Well, this ledger contains all the transactions happening which are validated when the people in the network come to a consensus. All the information is stored in a block which is difficult to modify.

Significance of blockchain technology is that it is very difficult to hack the data or falsify it. Once the data is stored in Blockchain, it would be difficult for anyone to make changes.The application of blockchain technology in the logistics industry and transportation is huge since it will make things more transparent and immutable.

Here some examples, where Blockchain can be used in the logistics industry.

In the current scenario, it is difficult to find any trucks for transporting any goods. Since it lacks capacity. Also, there is a need for transportation and logistic companies to authenticate and secure data that will help to improve the operations. The current system followed in the logistics industry provides and records all the information on EDIs and APIs.

• Current Areas where blockchain is Adopted in Logistics Industry.Well, with so many different industries and use-cases of blockchain, there is a launch of a new consortium known to be BiTA(Blockchain in Transport Alliance). The most prominent aim of BiTa is to build a common framework that will help to do logistics management, transaction processing and asset tracking.

Some of the famous Blockchain Projects in Logistics Industries are following.

• A huge diamond company is making use of blockchain technology that helps to track all the stones coming from different points, and when consumers buy them. Well, use of this prevents the conflicts and assures that consumers are getting the genuine product.

• Another large mining company is using blockchain technology to record and track the data using the process of mining. It will make this process more efficient, and safer.also every transaction would be transparent.

• Several multi-chain supermarkets are using blockchain that help to track the supply of meat coming from Asia. It helps them to track from where the meat is coming, its storage time and process time.

Use of smart contracts in Blockchain to create applications for logistics Industries.

A smart contract is analogous to the legal contracts that we have. The most fundamental difference between them is that smart contracts are self-executable based on the conditions. Let us take an example when a company needs to pay any invoice to the transportation company after receiving the product. A smart contract would be used to do automatic transfer when the package reaches the GPS coordinate. 

Smart contracts are much more efficient than the current based systems of all supply chains. Traditional documents need to pass through different parties. There are huge changes of frauds, errors and losses. With the use of Blockchain, one can eliminate all the administrative steps needed, which would eventually cut the cost and remove all the possibilities of errors. 

Some of the benefits of using Blockchain technology in the Supply Chain are as follows.

• It increases transparency, the largest use of Blockchain. Also, the distributed ledger breaks down the redundancy and walls between several parts of the industry.

• It makes it very easy to tr`ack and trace all the updates related to supply. Also, at every step, detailed information is given.

• All the processes like audits, payments become faster, as there are no intermediaries, unlike traditional processes. It prevents errors like overpayments, overbilling and many more.

• It leads to easy identification of all the frauds, a large amount of data is generated, which makes it very difficult to audit and find errors in that. Well, Blockchain solves the problems since once the data is stored in the Blockchain, it is very difficult to make changes in them.

• It builds trust by consumers since all the customers will be able to track information at all the points when they buy a product also this technology would help to provide realistic information to all customers.

• Another benefit of Blockchain technology for logistics and supply chain is that it will get real-time feedback from all the customers. And this feedback would be connected with all the manufacturers and suppliers. This will help the people to make more accurate forecasts and that too in real-time.

• If you look at the current process, itr is not that much scalable. Blockchain technology would help to increase the scalability of supply since it will be able to identify all the potential trends. Also, this will help to track the demand.

How to implement Blockchain technology in your logistics business.

Well, blockchain technology is still in its infancy, but it is quite permissible technology. If you are looking to implement blockchain development in your business, then you should try to do the following things. 

You should participate in the BiTA Standards and various such groups since groups like this will help you to know how blockchain technology is making disruptions in the logistics industry. It is significant to join such groups since without them, you won’t be able to understand technology in a better way and how to implement it would still be doubtful.

Another way is to join any proof of concept and look at its implementation. As you know, blockchain’s latest trend is making huge significant progress and it has impacted several industries in a good way.

Conclusion

Blockchain technology has huge scope in all the industries which lack in securing data and where a lot of frauds happen. It would be significant if this technology is used in the logistics industry since it will reduce the frauds and help the people to track all the details. Well, if you want to implement this technology, you need to start working on it.

Well, it is believed that Blockchain technology benefits will gain huge importance in the coming years, and it will have a huge impact on all the logistics companies when autonomous trucks come. Well, it is really important to focus now.