Security
Blockchain Is Transforming the Supply Chain: Jeff Neithercutt on How This Impacts Our Future
On the surface, notes cybersecurity expert Jeff Neithercutt, blockchain technology seems an emerging field for more convenient consumer wealth and savings. For example, blockchain ushered in the era of bitcoin and continues to alarm financial “middlemen” everywhere.
But the impact of blockchain technology is much bigger.
Advocates for fair trade, production integrity, and social justice look to blockchain to further infiltrate the world of supply chain management. Organizations that have already adopted blockchain technology into their supply chain are able to pinpoint the origin of product defects, protect changeover information from fraud, and save costs by marketing directly to consumers.
According to Jeff Neithercutt, the main ways that supply chain management is changing are transparency, inclusion, and consensus. And experts hold blockchain technology responsible.
Transparency
In a traditional supply chain, the process begins with raw materials and ultimately makes its way into the hands of consumers.
It is highly unusual that a single organization will manage every level of the supply chain: raw material procurement, supply, manufacturing, distribution, customer/seller/vendor, and consumer.
As raw materials transfer to suppliers then suppliers to manufacturers (and so on), every change of hands opens the supply chain up to theft, fraud, and misinformation. By the time a product arrives on the shelf, consumers may be buying a product that represents a long line of maleficence, both intentional and unintentional.
Blockchain technology masterfully records, remembers, and encrypts every step of the supply chain. In some cases, the utilization of blockchain technology eliminates a step in the supply chain process altogether.
The end result, reports Jeff Neithercutt, is that consumers and governing authorities know exactly how a product is made, moved, and sold. Additionally, businesses facilitating the supply chain process save thousands of dollars on waste, information altering, and theft.
Inclusion
Jeff Neithercutt explains that the cost to entry and the hardened politics associated with international companies doing business often prevents new players from making a hard move into a given industry. As it happens, blockchain technology disrupts the cost of entry, as well.
When all organizations contributing to the supply chain enjoy the benefits of blockchain technology, it effectively levels the playing field. Under-handed deals, ignored regulations, or even regulations lobbied in bad faith are instantly exposed by untampered blockchain data.
Consensus
As international economies continue to improve their cross-border supply chain process, the increased transparency and inclusion naturally lead to greater consensus. Fair trade agreements and international governing bodies can define and enforce sound economic and social justice principles.
Blockchain technology exposes unsafe work conditions or ignored hazards anywhere along the supply chain process. The bureaucracy and red tape associated with the supply chain process will be streamlined. As a result, more people become aware of unhealthy business practices.
As a former law enforcement officer and information security analyst, Jeff Neithercutt is a senior cybersecurity consultant. Jeff graduated with a Master’s Degree in Cyber Security and Information Assurance. In his current role, Jeff advocates for the benefits of blockchain technology to increase the safety of sensitive information and protect the public from fraud.
