EUROPE - 05/23/2018 (PRESS RELEASE JET)

There’s nothing that has reached the depths of online discussion and publicity in the recent past as far as technology is concerned as the power of blockchain technology has done. And it’s justified, given the inventions that have come up utilizing the unlimited ability of blockchain technology.

Different industries continue to witness innovations that have taken how people perceive and operate within these industries except the supply chain and procurement sector which has been left behind in leapfrogging and joining the great benefits that come with digitisation.   

But, what’s wrong in this sector? Well, everything, to say the least. From manual systems prone to fraudulent activity without trace, contractual nightmares, inefficient B2B remittances that take weeks or months, to inadequate incentives, poor supplier management and closed and centralized access to services and even products, the current supply chain and procurement industry needs a complete overhaul using the latest technology that is universally effective, secure, fast and transparent.

And for those procurement heads putting a little more effort by being creative, trying to implement innovative systems from vendors across the street, it all ends up thwarted by one thing or the other. Legacy systems tend to work for them but it’s still very inefficient, slow and limited.

Another sad fact to note is that not so many care despite the valuation of this industry estimated at $64 trillion. Suppliers keep regretting their moves every now and again and, are sometimes forced to find other options of cashing their pending invoices to check problems with cash flow.

One way to do that is by using invoice factoring. But even with invoice financing, there are still challenges that they have to deal with. The fees the vendors charge could go up to 20% of the invoice value (a value which is already negotiated). 

Another challenge faced by these suppliers is the refusal by invoice factoring vendors to accept their invoices for the fear of double invoicing. 

With all these problems that supply chain and procurement industry players face, Planport sees an opportunity to make it right. And it’s only possible with a creatively thought, future-proof solution.

So, how is Blockchain Technology a big win for the supply chain and procurement sector?

First, we look back at the 5-fold universally accepted benefits of the blockchain technology:

• Greater Transparency

• Enhanced Security

• Improved Traceability

• Increased Efficiency and Speed

• Reduced Associated Costs

Each of these features of blockchain technology applies to a great extent and in fact, a necessity in the supply chain and procurement process. We need improved transparency throughout the procurement process, and we feel confident knowing that the whole movement of goods from a supplier to the consumer or company is secure. There's also improved trust among B2B players when traceability is guaranteed, and business is enhanced with efficiency and speed.

And if we can reduce the costs associated with supply and procurement, businesses are assured of increased revenue and by extension, growth. 

With the problems that currently dot this multi-trillion-dollar industry, merging a robust technology and a creatively thought, safe, cost-effective network is undoubtedly an indispensable solution.

And now comes Planport.

Before understanding what planport is and how it’s magical in innovating in this sector, we need to understand what’s a Hyperledger, as well as Ethereum. We will start with the latter.

Ethereum

Ethereum is a decentralised blockchain network that allows developers to harness the power of blockchain technology in creating different innovations that run smart contracts, that is, without fraud, censorship, downtime and in a transparent (no third party interference) fashion. Ethereum is fully-functional and publicly-accessible. 

IBM Hyperledger

A hyperledger is a blockchain framework that allows developers to develop open, consistent and enterprise-grade distributed ledger blockchain frameworks and code bases to introduce profound results that can be integrated with different innovations to enhance how businesses transactions (and other areas) are executed.

In essence, what hyperledger thinking craves to achieve is identify areas and points in the blockchain technology that can be utilized for the benefit of the cross-platform industries to improve trust, speed, efficiency, etc.

This is a great thing to happen in this century. Out of this and by carefully examining the current supply chain and procurement industry and identifying the pain points for most business, Planport network has been created.

PLANPORT’S SOLUTION

A look at the procurement and supply chain industry reveals the loopholes that intermediaries and other procumbent heads exploit thus rendering efficient business operations impossible. The many stages that demand a collaborative approach in the supply chain and procurement process needs a solution that unifies the entire procurement process, end-to-end by employing the power and efficiency of the blockchain technology.  

This is precisely what the planport network aims to achieve. By creating a seamless interaction right from on-boarding, monitoring, issuing and expenditure management, payment processes, and performance analysis, among others, Planport eliminates the need for a centralized ledger or switchboard operator in the procurement and supply chain process, making it efficient, secure and fast.

By introducing blockchain technology in the procurement and supply chain process, we do away with centralized ledgers that can be altered, eliminate manual processes and instead, introduce a system with smart contracts, decentralized ledgers, utmost transparency making sure that the whole procurement and sourcing process is unequivocally is clean and ethical.

Another reason to be involved with Planport is that it offers end-to-end supply chain network solutions with both an Enterprise Portal and the Supplier Portal. Besides, Planport also provides a platform called a Trade finance Marketplace intended to eliminate the need to have a middleman to verify and execute invoices and allows borderless trade finance marketplace where trade asset sellers and funders meet with trust and mutual benefit.

And lastly, Planport, through its trade finance marketplaces allows businesses to control their organization’s trade finance operations using a transparent and intuitive financial dashboard. The Planport trade finance solutions are designed for to give suppliers more cash flow while at the same time, availing to investors a means to get more choices and discounts built on trust. 

To learn more about planport’s solutions, head to https://www.planport.iofor more details on how planport has used the power of blockchain technology to solve the problems in today's supply chain and procurement industry.