Class of solution: Efficiency Pay

When it comes to traceability and blockchain, the ideal solution is the Efficiency Pay.

This solution can be applied to alliances, networks, business relationships, supply chains, and processes that need interdependence, at the level of own business or industry. I bet you fit in one of these profiles!

As discussed in the article Trace It! , today we face different problems related to these types of networks: besides having dominant players that dictate the structure and rules of the ecosystem, there are a lot of verticalities, inefficiencies, intermediaries, misunderstood bottlenecks, high costs, and auditability difficulties.

Given this scenario, the objective of the Efficiency Pay solution via blockchain is to make the production and consumption process more efficient and sustainable, through traceability and transparency.

What does the solution provide?

Eliminates intermediaries, enables traceability, optimizes, and gives transparency to processes and interconnects the chain in an efficient and pre-established way.

Talk techy to me!

This is only possible due to the following technical factors:

1. Distributed Ledger:

A distributed ledger is a database that exists across several locations or among multiple participants. It is decentralized to eliminate the need for a central authority or intermediary to process, validate, or authenticate transactions. All records in the distributed ledger are then timestamped and given a unique cryptographic signature, that is, transactions are recorded only once, eliminating the duplication effort typical of traditional business networks. The technology also provides a verifiable and auditable history of all information stored on that particular dataset, that can be viewed by all of the participants.

2. Immutable Register

No participant can change or corrupt a transaction after it is registered in the distributed ledger. If a transaction record includes an error, a new transaction must be added to reverse that error and both transactions are visible.

3. Consensus

In a business network, transactions can be verified and committed to the ledger through an agreement, called consensus. As explained in the IBM article, Consensus mechanisms vary from blockchain to blockchain, but include the following:

• Proof of stake: To validate transactions, validators must hold a certain percentage of the network’s total value. Proof of stake might provide increased protection from a malicious attack on the network by reducing incentives for attack and making it very expensive to execute attacks.
• Multi-signature: A majority of validators (for example, three out of five) must agree that a transaction is valid.
• Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT): PBFT is an algorithm designed to settle disputes among computing nodes (network participants) when one node in a set of nodes generates different output from the others in the set.

4. Smart Contracts (optional)

To speed up transactions, a set of rules, called a smart contract, is stored on the blockchain and executed automatically. A smart contract defines the conditions for making transactions feasible.

To clarify, check it out:

Efficiency Pay External Cases

MAERSK + IBM

The challenge: Total trade accounts for 60% of world GDP, yet global supply chains are clogged with inefficiencies and rely heavily on complex paper-based systems. A single shipment of goods from East Africa to Europe may require more than 200 unique interactions with 30 individuals and organizations, generating a four-inch stack of paper records.

The solution: Creating a Joint Venture that will bring Blockchain to all participants who play a vital role in one of the largest networks in the world — the global remittance ecosystem.

The result: 40% reduction in transit time for a shipment of packaging materials to a production line in the United States, saving thousands of dollars.

More info: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdhpYQCWnCw

Fuchsia + PROVENANCE

The challenge: Being an online, direct-to-consumer brand, the e-commerce experience is key to sharing their brand story and building trust with shoppers. Fuchsia wanted to improve the way they communicated their impact and ensure it wasn’t missed by potential shoppers. They decided to explore this with Provenance, with the objective to improve engagement and increase online sales.

The solution: A blockchain-based platform by Provenance opened up verified information and data backing up their brand statements. By communicating the craftsmanship and working conditions in their workshops, Fuchsia’s shoppers can learn more about the tradition, people and quality behind the product. Visuals and real-life stories of the people behind the product further support Fuchsia in fostering a human-to-human connection between the brand and its shoppers. The Provenance platform simplified the process for Fuchsia to create and share these stories at this key point within the shopper journey.

The result: 31% increase in sales conversion.

More info: https://www.provenance.org/case-studies/fuchsia-shoes

Efficiency Pay Blockforce Cases

FAIR FASHION

The challenge: Fashion is ranked second as the industry with most cases of forced labor or conditions similar to slavery. In recent years, brands and manufacturers in the textile industry have been trying to solve this problem through auditing. However, this method is still very inefficient, since it involves surprise inspections or unannounced visits to the workshops and not a constant and close control of the production chain as a whole. How to emphasize the role of seamstresses in the fashion chain, enabling fair working conditions, and encouraging conscious consumption?

The solution: Recognize the individuality of each worker in the supply chain by giving them voice through a monthly survey, which will collect spontaneous and anonymous statements about the working conditions; give more transparency, traceability and governance to the audit process, covering almost all ABVTEX indicators, the most used reference in the sector in Brazil.

The result: Dressmakers have the right to answer anonymous and confidential survey about working conditions; workshops and suppliers monitor their productivity and social indicators; brands have visibility of the whole chain, enabling preventive actions and helping to predict deliverability.

More info: https://blockforce.in/case/fairfashion?lang=en

ORGANIS+8

The challenge: The organic products market in Brazil is extremely informal and fragmented, which means that small producers are exploited by large traders and prices are very high to the final consumer. How to create a transparent and traceable network among all stakeholders to make the chain fairer, reduce the cost, and the final price of the organics product?

The solution: Organis+8 is the first official platform for those who produce organic products in Brazil, in compliance with Law 10831 (Brazil). The platform has the mission of gathering information about the production chain of organic and sustainable products in Brazil and being the center of promotions to open opportunities for development and commercialization of the entire chain, from producer to consumer.

The result: Strengthened market, producer network established in a safe and reliable way, process optimization

More info: https://blockforce.in/case/moeda?lang=en