IBM and blockchain services and consulting specialist Chainyard have announced Trust Your Supplier (TYS), a blockchain network designed to improve supplier qualification, validation, on boarding and life cycle information management.
Founding participants alongside IBM include Cisco, Anheuser-Busch InBev, GlaxoSmithKleine, Lenovo, Nokia, Schneider Electric and Vodafone.
Trust Your Supplier is designed to eliminate manual time-consuming processes and help reduce the risk of fraud and errors, creating frictionless connectivity across supply chains.
“Blockchain has the ability to completely transform how companies onboard and manage their supplier network for the future,” said Renee Ure, Chief Supply Chain Officer for Lenovo’s Data Center Group. “Through Trust Your Supplier, both buyers and suppliers will the see the procurement benefits of blockchain through reductions in cost, complexity and speed.”
Trust Your Supplier creates a digital passport for supplier identity on the blockchain network that allows suppliers to share information with any permissioned buyer on the network.
The partners says Blockchain ensures a permissioned based data sharing network, helping reduce the time and cost associated with qualifying, validating and managing new suppliers, while creating new business opportunities among suppliers and buyers.
Third-party validators, such as Dun & Bradstreet, Ecovadis and RapidRatings provide outside verification or audit capabilities directly on the network.
“Working with IBM and Chainyard on this blockchain initiative represents a great opportunity for Nokia to further enhance our suppliers’ experience and optimise the onboarding process,” said Sanjay Mehta, Vice President Procurement, Nokia. “Using the latest technology to address a classical challenge will be of benefit for everyone, and further increase the speed of using innovative solutions.”
With over 18,500 suppliers around the world, IBM will begin using the Trust Your Supplier network initially onboarding 4,000 of its own North American suppliers over the next few months. IBM Procurement projects a 70 to 80 percent reduction in the cycle time to onboard new suppliers, with a potential 50 percent reduction in administrative costs within its own business.
