verticals are looking at blockchain as a potential tool to help solve these challenges .
• A group of leading retailers and food companies have formed a consortium and are collaborating with IBM trying to improve food safety and consumer confidence using blockchain .
• What could be more important than tracking and knowing the provenance of prescription drugs ? A group of pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer and Genentech , recently completed a pilot blockchain project allowing them to better track their meds .
• Counterfeit product is a constant challenge for supply chain . Blockchain technology is providing provenance of product for many verticals . A great example is the diamond industry , which is looking at blockchain to establish provenance and transparency in trading .
Will Supply Chain be the Breakout Blockchain Use Case ?
There is no denying blockchain is very high in the technology hype cycle . A lot of the media frenzy surrounds cryptocurrencies and the financial services industries . But when we look at what blockchain offers in chain of custody / chain of events scenarios , we see supply chain could be a huge beneficiary of the business value provided by this ecosystem . Blockchain technology provides full transparency , trust and provenance of products through their entire life cycles , from inception to consumer . If any use case scenario has the potential to catapult blockchain out of the alpha / beta initiative cycle , we think supply chain is a prime candidate to launch that breakout this year . Time will tell .
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