Alfa-Bank is ready for adjusting blockchain technology for transport industry
Alfa-Bank sees prospects for the development of blockchain solutions in transport industry including the segment of wholesale logistics, Denis Dodon, Head of Center for Innovations Research & Development, Alfa-Bank, told IAA PortNews.
According to him, blockchain is efficient for optimization of interaction in B2B networks with a large number of contractors (cargo owners, shippers, ports container and stevedoring companies).
“Specific feature of water freight transportation is quite complicated logistic processes. Cargo can be delivered to the port by open-top rail cars and transshipped to vessels. That involves a number of related services like forwarding and loading/unloading performed by different companies.
Blockchain is able to prevent delays at any stage: information about implementation of each phase of the supply chain is passed to the next one. If accepted, the contract is performed automatically. That creates a transparent medium allowing for immediate information exchange between the interacting parties and for contract performance”, explained Denis Dodon.
“We are currently looking into development of joint partnership solutions for the segment of wholesale logistics and are ready for adjusting of ready blockchain solutions developed together with S7 Airlines”, said Alfa-Bank representative.
When speaking at the conference “How blockchain technology helps to increase a business' value”, organized by Forbes Russia, Denis Dodon presented cases of blockchain technology introduction and told about the joint work with S7.
“Blockchain technology allows for real-time tying of sales and payments ensuring 24/7 value exchange between real bank accounts. We see that in the case of Alfa-Bank and S7 with transparent interaction between agents, airline and those buying tickets. It is important that the project is implemented in the existing legal framework, so blockchain is already applicable for optimization of business processes in Russia”, Denis Dodon said at the conference.
The importance of this technology is in its ability to help clients be more competitive. Blockchain lets decrease the cost of the service and ensure its 24/7 availability. With BigData, implementation of smart contracts under the defined algorithm allows for considerable improvement of the service offered by clients to buyers.
Besides, blockchain helps reduce operational costs through cancellation of unnecessary and overlapping phases of the process.
“Experience has shown that clients hardly know the cost of their business processes. Algorithmization makes them reconsider the roles and functions of all parties involved in the contract, reveal ‘bottlenecks’ and make interaction more transparent”, Alfa-Bank speaker shares the experience.
Alfa-Bank is one of the pioneers in the development of blockchain technology for businesses in Russia. In December 2016, Alfa-Bank and S7 Airlines made the first credit transaction in Russia through smart contracts.
In 2017, Alfa-Bank took up the leading position in introduction of blockchain solutions for optimization of business processes. Among the projects of Alfa-Bank is the Russia’s first-ever pilot blockchain payment transaction (jointly with MegaFon and Sberbank), blockchain solution for trading automation (with S7), open platform for verification of supplies in factoring (with M.Video and Sberbank Factoring).
Alfa-Bank has an experience of developing its own products based on different platforms including Ethereum, HyperLedgerFabric, Cyber FT. The company has also been working on expansion of its pool of partners.
Alfa Bank is about to join the R3 blockchain consortium. It is also participating in the development of Masterchain, national blockchain platform.
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