I guess another thread on "why Walmart, Maersk, etc. looking into blockchain isn't just smoke and mirrors" is in order.
To get this out of the way: enterprise blockchains aren't Satoshi blockchains. Typically in enterprise: no tokens, no PoW, throughput and restrictive data access are still paramount. (Some people call these things DLT. I don't.)
What make these things "blockchains" and not just souped-up enterprise systems?
1. Events (ownership transfers) are recorded by transaction, not by entity
2. External audit is folded into the transaction
3. Non-hierarchical converge to a consensus to maintain validity
1. Events (ownership transfers) are recorded by transaction, not by entity
2. External audit is folded into the transaction
3. Non-hierarchical converge to a consensus to maintain validity
Why are these systems interesting to Walmart & Co. despite their known drawbacks?
1. Outside of parcel (UPS, Fedex), track & trace systems are still in their infancy. That's not because Walmart sits on 30 y/o legacy irons, it's because enterprise systems are inherently bad...
1. Outside of parcel (UPS, Fedex), track & trace systems are still in their infancy. That's not because Walmart sits on 30 y/o legacy irons, it's because enterprise systems are inherently bad...
...for tracing things along modern, vertically disintegrated supply chains. And unlike the Fedexes, the Walmarts are pushing (contra Coase/Williamson) for more vertical disintegration, aka outsourcing, in their supply chains for strategic reasons.
2. Of course blockchains won't "solve" anything. Enterprises are looking for efficiency gains, and as counterintuitive as this might sound, those "deliberately slow" blockchains hold the promise to make supply chains processes more efficient.
3. That's because this "decentralized consensus" thingy is actually quite nifty when it comes to creating fundamental audit trails across multiple enterprise boundaries.
Y no shared enterprise system, trusted intermediary, etc., tho?
1. The existing systems are already lumbering behemoths which are also incidentally designed to operate within enterprises, and not so well inbetween enterprises.
1. The existing systems are already lumbering behemoths which are also incidentally designed to operate within enterprises, and not so well inbetween enterprises.
2. The argument in favor of collecting this data in a shared access entity simply miss how much conflict and mutuality drive this trend towards vertical disintegration. Especially if that entity is controlled by the 800lb gorilla.
So if you strip the discussion of the ideological brouhaha and the obvious misinterpretations what a blockchain (enterprise or not) does, the peeps who build track & trace systems look into blockchain because they see a process which can simplify the recording of audit trails.
All of this happens mostly off the radar and at the glacial pace typical in enterprise. In this case, this might be a feature and not a bug.
Unrolled.
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