This archive report was first published on 7 August 2019.
On August 7, 2019, IBM and Chainyard launched Trust Your Supplier, a new blockchain supplier management platform built on the IBM Blockchain Platform and hosted on the IBM Cloud.
The platform, which is designed to simplify supplier qualification, validation, onboarding, and life cycle information management, has been adopted by several major companies, including Anheuser-Busch InBev, Cisco, GlaxoSmithKline, Lenovo, Nokia, Schneider Electric, and Vodafone.
According to Renee Ure, Chief Supply Chain Officer for Lenovo's Data Center Group, blockchain has the ability to completely transform how companies onboard and manage their supplier network for the future.
Trust Your Supplier uses a decentralized approach and an immutable audit trail built on blockchain to eliminate manual time-consuming processes and help reduce the risk of fraud and errors.
By using the platform, suppliers can share information with any permissioned buyer on the network, reducing the time and cost associated with qualifying, validating, and managing new suppliers.
Third-party validators, such as Dun & Bradstreet, Ecovadis, and RapidRatings, provide outside verification or audit capabilities directly on the network.
The Trust Your Supplier blockchain network can also connect existing procurement business networks by relaying necessary supplier data required for exchanging Purchase Orders and invoices.
IBM has over 18,500 suppliers around the world and will begin using the Trust Your Supplier network initially onboarding 4,000 of its own North American suppliers over the next few months.
By 2023, blockchain is expected to support the global movement and tracking of $2 trillion of goods and services annually, according to technology research firm Gartner Inc.
