Honeywell Is Deploying Blockchain Technology to Eliminate Manual Processes
Digital technology has been topping the charts for a while now, but there are many aspects of it which have yet to show their true potential in the world of B2B ecommerce and marketing.
One such technology is blockchain. As the technology which makes cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Doge possible, blockchain has been grabbing headlines in financial spaces as commentators endlessly debate about whether it sounds the death knell for traditional banks and money.
Whether or not cryptocurrency will prove to be the next evolution of finance remains to be seen, but there’s no getting away from the fact that blockchain technology has many applications outside of the financial space. Supply chains, pharmaceuticals, and, yes, even B2B ecommerce can be supported by this enigmatic technology.
Blockchain
First, a short primer on how blockchain technology functions.
Blockchain handles transactions – meaning any exchange of data, not necessarily financial dealings – and does so through the creation of an immutable and decentralized ledger which tracks every stage in the transaction process and is readable by any stakeholder in that process.
Each time a new transaction is carried out it creates a new block of data and adds it to a chain composed of all previous transactions. Each block is identified by a long and complex hash code which contains information pertaining to the entire chain. It would be impossible to alter one hash code without it being immediately apparent because of discrepancies in the entire chain. This, combined with the fact the information is not centralized – i.e., not stored on any single device – is what gives blockchain its much vaunted security and independent mode of operation.
In supply chains, for example, this means each stage of the shipping process can be recorded and traced and errors, losses, or breakages, can easily be tracked to the point of occurrence.
Honeywell
One brand which has been making innovative use of blockchain technology is GoDirect Trade. As a subsidiary of Honeywell Aerospace, GoDirect Trade is responsible for a digital marketplace which provides ecommerce and digitization solutions for the new, surplus, and used aviation parts market.
Naturally, this role requires the constant updating and listing of products, a process which takes up a significant amount of time and consumes a considerable volume of paper. Outdated manual form filling was costing GoDirect Trade time and money at an unacceptable rate and it new it had to find a solution.
"Doing a $1 billion parts inventory in any way less than fully digital would have taken 2,916 hours, or 365 workdays," said General Manager at GoDirect Trade, Lisa Butters. "$1 billion in inventory equated to roughly 25,000 listings, and each listing would have required at least seven minutes in quality paperwork touch time. That’s over 2,916 hours we would have spent on the ridiculously manual process of downloading and re-uploading quality paperwork."
That solution emerged in the form of blockchain technology. With blockchain, transactions can be set to trigger automatically, and it’s this feature which interested Honeywell when designing the new product listing system. With its new blockchain ledger in place, GoDirect Trade now has the ability to immediately list parts with images, specifications, product descriptions, certifications, and needed paperwork for its entire inventory of approximately 25,000 parts.
"Remember, to list anything for sale on GoDirect Trade, it requires price, product images, and paperwork," continues Butters. "It might seem like a no-brainer to require these three simple things for ecommerce, but in a $4 billion industry where virtually none of it is transacted online, sellers simply aren’t set up to collect and organize these digital artifacts."
Thanks to blockchain technology automatically bringing all these elements of product listings together automatically, GoDirect Trade and Honeywell Aerospace can save significant amounts of time and money. According to Honeywell, manually replicating all the necessary paperwork for the sale of 39 refurbished aerospace parts came to nearly $2 million – for one customer!
Final Thoughts
While most people know what Bitcoin is, blockchain itself has yet to become a household name. However, with enormous brands such as Honeywell bringing the technology into its B2B ecommerce operation the power of blockchain is only set to grow in awareness in the future.
"Blockchain is quickly becoming a technology that is gathering momentum in multiple industries," says GoDirect Trade "Many of us have read about Blockchain applications used to manage and monitor the diamond supply chain or to secure and track records in the financial services sector. But within aerospace, the use cases are far fewer. In fact, I would say that when it comes to aerospace, we’re merely at Ground Zero and barely scratching the surface on what Blockchain can really do to change this industry for the better."
You can hear Honeywell’s Chief Digital Technology Officer, Sheila Jordan, speak at B2B Online 2022, taking place in April at the Chicago Marriott Downtown, IL.
Download the agenda today for more information and insights.