Transcript 0:00 [on-hold music] If you're involved in the supply chain, you need to be looking at how blockchain can make processes better. 0:10 Stop looking at the blockchain as the mechanics behind the Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies like it was in the past. 0:16 If you're thinking along those lines, you're kind of living in the past because it's not the way it used to be. 0:22 Blockchain is truly here to stay, and I think it's going to change the supply chain in a very big fundamental way. 0:31 Welcome to The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation with your host, Peggy Smedley. [upbeat music] Hello, listeners, and welcome to today's edition of The Peggy Smedley Show. 0:45 I'm your host, Peggy Smedley. I'd like to further our discussion about the supply chain in this segment by talking about the intersection of supply chain technology and blockchain. 0:57 As you remember, we've been talking about that, and I'd like to cover a bit about the blockchain market in general and then share some ways, uh, I'm seeing this technology affect the supply chain. 1:11 Later on in the show, I'll be interviewing Stacy Schwartz, who's the vice president of public safety and FirstNet sales at AT&T, and I'm really excited that she'll be joining us. 1:22 And then I'm going to wrap up the show with Darren Archer, chief strategy officer at Elastic Path. Uh, Path, I should say. Excuse me about that. 1:32 Uh, let's get started with a short explanation on some market projection numbers. Blockchain isn't a new topic around here, uh, but it isn't always, uh... 1:42 But I-- Well, I guess I should say it's always helpful to make sure we're all on the same page when we haven't talked about a particular topic for a while, and I think we haven't really talked about blockchain as of late. 1:54 Uh, blockchain is a growing list of records that are linked together and stamped with important information like transaction data and timestamp. 2:04 Harvard Business Review has a nice definition of blockchain that I'd like to share with you. 2:09 It's an open, they say, dis-distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently in a verifiable and permanent way. Uh, nice, simple definition. I really enjoy that one. 2:24 In its early days, I think blockchain had a kind of a bad reputation for being an avenue for criminals to initiate transactions without being tied to an institution like a bank. 2:37 But in today's digital world, we're seeing a lot of very legitimate use cases for a decentralized, distributed ledger system. 2:47 Wintergreen Research, uh, in a report compiled for IBM, estimates blockchain markets are headed, uh, upwards of sixty billion in worldwide, uh, revenue by twenty twenty-four, and it's up from seven... 3:04 I guess I'd say about seven hundred and six million that was, uh, recorded in twenty seventeen. 3:10 And I'll come back to this report in IBM in a, in a minute, but when I start focusing on supply chains in overall, I think it'll help you understand the numbers. 3:20 Another research firm from Grand View Research anticipates the global blockchain technology market will reach as much as fifty-seven billion by twenty twenty-five. 3:32 Now, I always like to show you these numbers because I think it puts in perspective where we think the market's headed, and we're seeing sectors like agriculture, financial services, healthcare, uh, insurance, manufacturing, retail, logistics, utility, starting to look at the value and even feasibility for blockchain in their respective industries. 3:55 Now, according to analysis by McKinsey, blockchain's short-term value is predominantly in reducing costs before creating transformative business models. 4:05 Now, I think it's an interesting idea because McKinsey's analysis also suggests blockchain is still, let's say, three to five years away from feasibility at scale. 4:17 Now, that's an interesting point, but let's talk about the need for this technology in general. What's the pain points does it help solve? 4:26 Now, there's two major needs blockchain addresses, and they include record keeping and a registry for transactions. So within the record-keeping category, if you look at it, 4:38 blockchain can store static data like land titles or food safety and origin, patents, mm, things like that. You get-- kind of get the idea. 4:50 It can also store id-identities for uses like civil registries and voting. Uh, it can also enable smart contracts. So blockchain can facilitate dynamic registries and payment infrastructures. 5:06 So I guess the question would be: How is it impacting the supply chain? So let's think of it this way. 5:13 Wintergreen Research pointed to managing supply chains as one of the key ways blockchain technology demand is growing among IBM customers. 5:23 And IBM and Maersk, uh, have built a blockchain-based supply chain solution that enables the real-time exchange of original su-supply chain events and documents through a data pipeline and ultimately connecting all of the participants in the supply chain ecosystem. 5:42 So this really kind of gives you some idea that it's essentially what blockchain is doing. It's providing transparency and trusted access across the supply chain ecosystem. 5:54 Now, you remember when we wrote an article several months back, we talked about the transparency that's needed between all the supply chain members. 6:02 So in food, this is so and very, very important is the transparency of all the members. So I'll highlight IBM once more because I think what they're doing is really important here. 6:14 So IBM's Food Trust is an example of how blockchain technology is impacting the complex food chain in general.and the supply chain. 6:25 Food safety I think is really important, and there are so many different players involved in getting food from the producer to the final consumer that it can be hard to keep track of what's happening along the way to a particular product. 6:39 When that product is food, something you're going to put in your f- food- in your body, you know, or food to feed your children, all of that data we all talk about, we wanna know. 6:49 We wanna make sure everybody's safe, so that end-to-end visibility that we talk about can be absolutely critical. I know I wanna know what's happening with all the food. 6:59 So the food trust that we're talking about leverages blockchain to not only digitize information in a way that creates this visibility, but also opens the door to many other benefits, like better supply chain efficiencies and less food waste. 7:15 And we think about feeding the world, there's a lot of benefits in the bigger picture, and I think that's really the way of the future. 7:24 So if I think about my opinion on this for today, blockchain is kind of the future of transactions, if we think about it in a bit bigger picture and what it can do. 7:35 And I've been on a board for the IFT in Chicago, and that's what they've been talking about, is what blockchain can do. 7:41 And in food especially, but this is also true across numerous other markets, consumer preferences are changing. There's... 7:50 They still care about pricing, there's no question, but they also really care about safety, the safety of all the food. 7:57 They want more information about where their products are coming from, you know, you think about where they're sourced, who made them, what happened to them en route, how long they've been on the shelf. 8:08 You know, have you heard... You know, think about this. I got a joke for you. You know, you've heard, you know, if you give a mouse a cookie, he'll want the whole jar. Well, think about this. 8:17 What happens in this day and age when we've created the technologies that give us the data? Now we want the data about everything. You know, we wanna know everything possible. So this is true in business and in life. 8:31 So that joke, you know, you give the, the mouse a cookie, he'll want the whole jar, well, that's what we're really thinking about. We don't just send off our fleet out anymore. 8:41 We assume that our drivers, our fleet vehicles, or whatever assets, assets might be on board with them will end up where they're supposed to be safely and on time without any issues. But here's the most important thing. 8:55 We want proof. We want the data. For instance, we want the data on that driver. Did he or she drive safely? Was he or she distracted? Did he make unauthorized stops? We want the data on that truck at that time. 9:11 So did it perform as intended? Does it need any repairs? We want the data on those assets. Are they safe on the job? Did someone move them or take them without their permission? You know, all these things. 9:25 You can see how this kind of thinking transfers all of the areas of... into a person's life in general. So, and, and, and think about the supply chain in, in particular. 9:36 Traditionally, there are too many middlemen in the supply chain, and that's where it gets even more tricky. 9:42 So there's an endless amount of back and forth, and things are written down, and, um, papers are lost, and in general, there's not enough accountability. 9:50 So it's, it's not fast enough, transparent enough, and frankly, trustworthy enough, and that's what we're talking about. So I think in general, here's, here's my tip for the day. 10:01 If you're involved in the supply chain, you need to be looking at how blockchain can make processes better. 10:08 Stop looking at the blockchain as the mechanics behind the Bitcoin or cryp- or cryptocurrencies like it was in the past. 10:15 If you're thinking along those lines, you're kind of living in the past, 'cause it's not the way it used to be. 10:21 Blockchain is truly here to stay, and I think it's going to change the supply chain in a very big fundamental way. 10:29 And I think it's going to make a big difference in the way we do things and the way all those transactions are, the way we source, the way we track, the way we trace, and I think it's going to give us that transparency that we want, and I think food is going to be able to take advantage of this in a very, very big way. 10:47 And I think we as consumers are demanding it, but don't look at it in this way of what was Bitcoin, which was, you know, a crazy way of kind of thinking about it, or cryptocurrencies. 10:59 Look about the way the players in it can do things. So I, I'm kind of curious what you all think, and as, you know, I'm out of time or I'd c- continue to go on about this, but I'd love to hear what you think. 11:10 So as always, I'd love for you to tweet and continue this discussion on social media at connectedwmag or on LinkedIn. You know, we always want a dialogue up there. You know, get up there. Put it up there. 11:21 I know lately we've been having a lot of great discussions about, you know, the future of the internet, and we've been having discussions about what's going on with 5G. So continue it up there. 11:32 Go up to connectedwmag, put your thoughts up there, and let's engage, 'cause it's important for you to tell us what you think, because that's where we can continue. 11:40 So all right, I'm out of time for this ser- first segment, but check out our website at connectedworld.com or past show segments at thepeggysmedleyshow.com. 11:49 We're gonna take a quick commercial break, but we are gonna be right back with Stacy Swartz, who's the vice president, public safety and FirstNet sales at AT&T. 11:58 This is The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation. And remember, with great technology comes great responsibility. Go get that quick cup of coffee, and we'll be right back. 12:12 [outro music]
