IBM has announced a new blockchain project called Trust Your Supplier (TYS.) This early, it has attracted big names from different industries. Coin Desk named a few of them-Anheuser-Busch InBev, Lenovo, GlaxoSmithKline, Schneider Electric, Nokia, and Vodafone had all expressed interest in the project and has come onboard.
The project was announced on Monday and TYS has become one of IBM's most successful programs. The steady group of track-and-trace supply chain and logistics programs also included Food Trust and TradeLens.
The TYS has become focused on supplier onboarding, which described a wide range of services and supplier information data. These pertain to ISO certifications, tax certifications, bank account data, and certificates of insurance, among others.
IBM has also emerged with a fully formed live production blockchain. TYS is limiting its availability to these existing participants, with commercial availability the next step of the plan.
The company is planning to forge ahead in Q3 2019, with Wieck saying that the company's footprint is confined to North America for now, but plans are to go global within the next year or so.
The company is also setting its sights on creating a faster and more efficient supply chain management system, according to Reuters. This supply chain management system is for the flow of various goods and different services.
It is also for overseeing the movement and storage of inventory, raw materials, and finished goods. This has been one of the many areas which analysts tied with IBM have identified as a beneficiary if blockchain is implemented in it.
Research firms like Gartner Inc have conducted research into the technology. By 2023, they have predicted that it will support the global movement and the tracking of $2 trillion of goods and services, as well as in other areas like real estate.
IBM has enlisted the help of blockchain firm Chainyard for the technology as well as the network that will house the company's blockchain platform. The other companies are storing supplier data into the network, while also contributing through their expertise, into the expansion of the network.
Like in real estate, managing suppliers have long relied on cumbersome methods to complete their supply chain work. It makes it difficult to maintain and fast track verification of identities and document tracking.
TradeLens is IBM's cargo shipping blockchain ecosystem and is also one of the biggest direct recipients of TYS. Analysts have said that there is an abundance of use cases for TYS, not limited to the document-sharing capability it already is seen being used for.
