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Global professional service company Accenture has announced that it has partnered with and invested in TradeIX, a tech company that’s using digital ledger technology (DLT) to streamline the flow of goods and services. The amount of funding has not been disclosed.
Accenture has been investing in DLT as its advantages hold a lot of promise for several industries, including trade finance that’s using an outdated legacy system.
At the moment, global supply chains are still using a paper-based system that is prone to several issues including fraud, transaction delay, and payment lockout. TradeIX is the operator of the blockchain-based Marco Polo network which enables simple, secured sharing of trade-related data between financial institutions and their corporate clients.
With this network, supply chains will no longer rely on an unreliable legacy system where parties need to acquire certain paperwork for goods to move through each line of the supply chain. Instead, parties involved in the trade can track the shipment in real-time and provide a transparent view of where the goods are and who’s currently in possession of it.
Eliminating fraud
This will not only expedite the movement of shipments across the globe but also help eliminate the chances of fraudulent activities. This is because blockchain technology provides an immutable ledger where every transaction taking place in a supply chain is recorded. Editing these records is impossible since all parties need to reach a consensus agreement to make changes on the ledger.
If this system proves successful, it could transform how trade will be done across the globe. Melanie Cutlan, managing director of blockchain services for Accenture Operations, certainly believes this to be the case, with Accenture backing this statement with the aforementioned funding.
Marco Polo network to launch in 2020
“Building on TradeIX’s solid foundation across the banking community, this relationship will help companies unlock trapped value in data silos across key operational processes, such as finance, accounting, and supply chain. Our goal is to scale this capability to help organizations achieve touchless payable and receivable processes within a secure and trusted environment — ultimately transforming how they conduct business with each other,” Cutlan said.
This partnership comes days after R3 and TradeIX announced a successful trade finance trial run involving several companies across multiple sectors. Of course, it remains to be seen if Marco Polo will indeed be the solution that the global supply chain needs to address the current issue. The network is slated to launch at an unspecified date in 2020.
