There is much talk about the potential benefits of blockchain technology for the supply chain industry and many efforts are underway to demonstrate blockchain’s capabilities. Early applications of this distributed ledger technology suggest that blockchain has the potential to generate new business models and associated values. Currently, blockchain solutions in the supply chain are being developed independent of each other to address a wide range of applications: from trade financing to marine insurance, to establishing provenance and document sharing. A question thus emerges: how do we ensure all these systems speak to each other?
Interoperability is the ability for various systems to interact with each other. Today, different blockchain protocols don’t speak to each other. Achieving interoperability means we have a common communication method for blockchains to interact and share information.
