Multinational telecommunications company Vodafone is exploring the capabilities of blockchain to improve its supply chain.
By integrating blockchain into its internal processes, Vodafone aims to advance its supply chain by promoting and verifying a certain number of suppliers via a digital identity platform called Trust Your Supplier, the company announced on March 6.
Implement diversity criteria
The announcement further explained that the company implements diversity criteria “to influence purchasing decisions alongside other standard criteria, such as security, value, delivery and technology when we invite suppliers to bid on business. “
Trust Your Supplier was jointly developed by tech giant IBM and blockchain company Chainyard last summer. Alongside Vodafone, the founding members of the network include technology companies Cisco, Lenovo, Nokia, Schneider Electric and the British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline.
The platform aims to eliminate time-consuming manual processes and reduce the risk of fraud and errors.
Telecommunications industry embraces blockchain
Telecommunications companies around the world are gradually rolling out blockchain even beyond their supply chains. Telefonica is said to have partnered with the local Association of Science and Technology Parks to grant access to its blockchain to approximately 8,000 companies in Spain.
South Korea’s largest telecommunications company, KT, was due to launch a local blockchain-based currency for one of the country’s largest cities, Busan, on December 30. At the time, it was noted that participants could use “change in any store.” in Busan with a credit card terminal, “although compatibility would be less common among large retailers in order to encourage spending in local small businesses.