Blockchain: Reflections on a Webinar

November 16, 2017
7:22 am

Yesterday, I spoke at the University of Tennessee Supply Chain Leaders Forum on innovation. The presentation focused on nine themes. One of the nine was blockchain. I asked the audience for a show of hands to understand how many of the supply chain leaders in the room were testing blockchain. I saw no raised hands.
Later that afternoon, I hosted a webinar featuring blockchain case studies. The Supply Chain Insights webinar series is designed as an educational forum. We use our research as a backdrop, and host supply chain leader panels to have a discussion on the research topic. Yesterday, Bristlecone and IBM presented case studies. The case studies focused on cold chain safety/alerting for out-of-condition limits for milk transport in India and the use of blockchain for fresh produce monitoring. The webinar was well-attended. Over 180 people joined, and the question panel was the busiest I have ever experienced hosting a webinar. Lots of interest.
Why the disconnect of interest between the two groups? Blockchain is new. It is not well-understood. In the traditional world of supply chain management in the United States, the focus is on the Plateau of Productivity as shown in Figure 1. The current efforts are on improving functional metrics and traditional processes. While leaders talk “value chains,” the focus is on the “efficient enterprise” which underdelivers on creating value for the firm.
Figure 1. The Supply Chain Management Hype Cycle

Conservative teams, programmed by large system integrators and technology providers, focus on the evolution of traditional supply chain technology approaches. The projects are on the plateau of productivity. As a result, there is very little time to focus on innovation. The focus is not on building value chains. Instead, it is on creating the efficient enterprise.
Rethinking Supply Chain Technologies
For the company, there is a huge opportunity cost. The singular focus on IT standardization and ERP migration hijacked supply chain innovation. ERP is not the foundation or the future of B2B processes. It is the system of record for enterprise transactions. Blockchain is a promising technology to redesign B2B processes, but we are at the beginning of the hype cycle, and we must manage the hype through the adoption. If we overpromise, we will kill innovation. Likewise, if we do not adequately test and learn, the technology will not evolve.
The questions on the webinar yesterday, centered on three themes. Here I share some insights:

What is blockchain? I encourage all readers of the blog to learn for themselves. Read the short book, Blockchain for Dummies and visit the many blockchain demo sites on the web.
How do I use blockchain? Start with use cases that are one-to-many (your company to your partners). Focus on something that is important to the company, but has clear governance. Examples include quality specifications, cold chain, return data, etc. Don’t start with cryptocurrency. Reference our past blogs for examples. Make the initial efforts small and clearly defined. Take small steps. Avoid big implementations.
Define immutable. Blockchain is an immutable ledger. On the webinar, Juan Ruiz from IBM used an analogy that I loved. He shared the story from his boss. She describes immutable as completing a crossword puzzle with an ink pen versus a pencil. When you use a pencil on a crossword puzzle, you can erase the entries. However, in the use of the pen, the first entries stay and are then crossed through. This is a great analogy to understand “immutable” as it pertains to blockchain.
What is the impact of blockchain on collaboration? This question is at the heart of the biggest barrier I see in the deployment of blockchain technologies. In the deployment of blockchain, the nodes (or designated parties) agree on the data. In today’s supply chain we do not share data well. We talk “collaboration” but supply chain teams cannot walk the talk. There is more of a focus on “wielding big sticks” than “carrots.” Yesterday, a presenter at the conference spoke of value and the use case presented was elongating Days of Payables by 120 days. I squirmed in my seat. This type of mentality is win/lose thinking. In contrast, true collaboration hinges on building win/win value propositions. For me , the greatest barrier for blockchain adoption is not with the technology, but with the definition of effective multi-tier processes.

For those interested in learning more on the evolution of B2B processes, please consider joining our Network of Networks share group. The next meeting is on December 4th in Indianapolis. It is an open group, focused on improving interoperability in B2B processes. At this next session, we will focus on current state of B2B, improving interoperability between existing networks (Elemica, E2open, GTNexus and SAP Ariba), and blockchain case studies. This open group is learning together. We limit attendance to 35 participants. We have 30 registered. Drop me an email at lora.cecere@supplychaininsights.com if you would like to attend.

Navigating Supply Chain Economic Downturns

August 30, 2026 5:28 pm

In 2007, the average company took six months to sense market shifts and adapt its supply chain. My estimate, based on work with clients, is that if a downturn happened today, the average company would take 20-30% more time to adjust than in 2007. Here I give insights on preparedness.

Warning: Sidestep the Narrative of the Misguided Goldiggers

August 10, 2026 4:58 pm

Ten years ago, I started writing a book titled Stories of the Misguided Gold Diggers. The book was a collection of stories from two decades of stories of technology leaders perpetuating the myth of integrated end-to-end supply chain planning.

I dusted off the manuscript on Saturday. I think that we have a new chapter. Companies focused on putting Artificial Intelligence (AI) on top of existing architectures are putting AI Stupid on steroids.

The Myth of End-to-End Planning

July 31, 2026 9:14 pm

Supply chain planning, supply management, supply chain execution, network design, and transportation/logistics management operate in silos. Not much has changed over four decades. The connections flow back through transactional systems: order-to-cash and procure-to-pay. There is a myth that companies can buy an end-to-end supply chain management solution. This is largely a myth. Here we explain.

Lead Time: A Broken Gossamer

July 16, 2026 6:38 pm

If you are struggling with supply chain planning, dancing in the light of shiny objects, and scratching your head, please read on. My goal is to help you.

Please do not AI Stupid. What do I mean? AI Stupid is putting agents and agentics on top of existing architectures believing that making them faster and hands free add value. To me, this is fools play.

I love AI. I am excited about new technologies. To this end, I want to shine a light on how new technologies can help address the black holes and inconsistencies in today’s supply chain, which largely stem from the limitations of the first generation of supply chain planning and execution technologies. In this blog, I give you three places to start.

Do You Need a Supply Chain Coach?

July 9, 2026 5:27 pm

Supply chain is where the rubber hits the road. For a public company, over 40% of market capitalization is tied to the trade-offs between growth, operating margin, inventory management, and Return on Capital Employed.

The road for supply chain improvement is fraught with issues. Here we share some and offer some advice.

Is your Supply Chain AI Ready?

June 11, 2026 2:39 pm

A simple quiz to assess an organization’s AI readiness.

The pace of change is fast and furious. Every day, technology advances faster than we can digest. A great challenge to have.

Determining whether a supply chain is “AI-ready” is less about technology and more about the gray matter between the ears of supply chain leaders. Leadership, alignment, and clarity of goals matter.

Too few companies are clear on the definition of supply chain excellence. Measuring and rewarding functional metrics reduces the firm’s value. Putting agentics on top of today’s processes can make bad practices run faster, reducing value.

The toughest job for the supply chain leader is challenging existing supply chain paradigms that were defined by the limitations of decades of supply chain technologies. As the curtain lifts on the potential of new forms of technology, process redefinition is our opportunity, but only if we are clear on what drives value. (Here, I link to the Supply Chains to Admire reports to help you define value. The next report will be published on June 23rd, along with my Dynamic Benchmarking Product, to help you define value in the face of your AI readiness. More information about the launch is at the bottom of this blog.)

Supply Chain Shaman