By Nish Kotecha, Chairman and cofounder Finboot

International trade has had a lot to deal with recently such as the Pandemic, increasing nationalistic politics and even Brexit.

Just a few months ago, the UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson referred to the supply chain shocks as growing pains as the economy reopens after the pandemic and Britain charts its course towards a high income, high value economy. Or in other words, a lorry driver should earn more in the UK than elsewhere and be British!

Rather than investigate Boris’s argument deeper, let’s look at the Supply Chain challenges and how to move from Just-in-time to Just-in-case (Economist); efficiency to redundancy.

Today’s supply chains are breaking. Having relied on free movement, they are being throttled by politics and COVID. Think of what the semiconductor shortage has done to the world’s most efficient supply chain models, automotive – closing factories and driving up second hand car prices.

The new model of building redundancy and latency in the supply chain means an increase in costs which ultimately will be passed on to the consumer, further driving up inflation (#1 retort to Boris).

In parallel, regulators are demanding more information on your product: where it comes from and how it was made. Further increasing costs.

Whatever your opinion on these supply chain shocks, we can all agree that the currently operating model is not fit for purpose. The new model will drive a restructuring of supply chains in new ways that result in the widespread acceptance of blockchain as a technology that enables cross-enterprise transformation and digitalisation.

Blockchain technology plays a fundamental role in the digital transformation of supply chains and thereby the engine that underpins international trade. Blockchain has the ability to trade frictions reduce cost, and save time while also mitigating risk and creating new business models. Current Enterprise users have been working with partners, consumers and regulators and surprisingly, competitors in sharing information across a winwin partnership.

Blockchain technology can provide transparency and create the supply chain agility required in the new normal. In an enterprise, blockchain can be used as a private permissioned framework for a group of stakeholders, such as suppliers, customers and regulators, to manage the sourcing, production and movement of goods dynamically throughout the supply chain.

International trade is being reengineerd across digital ecosystems, which are the necessary balance to inreacsing costs of the movement of godos and services. Furthermore, collaboration can bring uforseen opportuities further redefining ones role in teh global supply chain.

But for global trade to see the full range of benefits from blockchain, trusted data needs to be shared and value exchanged both on blockchain and non-blockchain networks—not just among participants in a single network, but across interconnected networks in digital market- places. As a neutral agent for trust, a “network of networks” economy could help companies build greater flexibility and resilience into operational and supply chain management—both essential attributes in times of crisis.