Blockchain technology is a rising trend in the management of supply chain. More commonly known as the distributed ledger, blockchain technology is a shared, inflexible ledger for recording the history of transactions that is independent of a central authority, server, or data center.

This technology will power a new generation of decentralized transactional applications intended to establish trust, accountability, and transparency. Supply chain management is a prime arena for blockchain concepts because of the routine need among multiple parties to conduct business of a multi-enterprise nature along global value chains.

So what is blockchain? The term was created to describe a loosely combined set of technologies and processes, including middleware, database, security, analytics/artificial intelligence, monetary, and identity management concepts. This relatively new concept will see a great number of initiatives spearheaded over the coming years, and the majority will inevitably fail. This is to be expected as we attempt to integrate new a concept with the potential for influence that blockchain has. As the technology evolves, highly decentralized supply chain management functions, such as smart contracts or traceability and authentication, will benefit from innovations and breakthroughs in the form of efficiency improvements in transactions and interactions.

Tecsys and its employees are driven by innovation, and we look toward the future with a vision that does not have prebuilt boundaries. The creativity of our development teams uniquely positions Tecsys to leverage rising technologies and be a leader in supply chain management. Not only are we solving real-time, supply chain-centric business problems with state-of-the-art technologies, but our collaboration with global healthcare and complex distribution industries gives us access to an enormous collection of data that positions us at the epicenter of developing world-class technology solutions.

By joining the Tecsys team, you’ll have the opportunity to work at the ground floor level of emerging technologies such as these, and lead the way in solutions that will change the way we live and do business.

Data Science is the leading technological field of the 21st century, and at the forefront is artificial intelligence. One of the most important trends in supply chain management is using AI systems that learn, adapt, and act autonomously to facilitate decision making and process automation.

Artificial Intelligence is still evolving, and it’s an exciting time to work in this emerging space. Over the next decade, AI will lead the charge across digital initiatives as it is used to reinforce decision making, revive business models and ecosystems, and advance the customer experience. As AI matures, it could even render other developing technology trends superfluous. Components of AI are already found in systems such as search engines, industrial robots, speech recognition, and data mining solutions.

In Supply Chain, AI has great potential as a tool to identify possible risk exposure. The goal is to use patterns identified within large datasets collected from the enterprise, customers, or suppliers to provide humans with new insights—without being explicitly programmed to do so. Currently, AI systems continue to rely on traditional optimization techniques or expert systems to generate recommendations that will allow us to avoid or mitigate risk. As we work to develop AI as a tool in supply chain, it will be essential to combine predictive analytics with more advanced prescriptive capabilities.

Tecsys is just one of the forward-thinking organizations using artificial intelligence to revolutionize supply chain management. The Federal Government of Canada has committed $250 Billion in investment funding toward the creation of the AI-powered Supply Chain Supercluster in order to propel the technological innovations needed to make AI a powerful supply chain tool. This initiative will also move the Canadian Economy into the next century as a center of excellence. By joining Tecsys, you will not only to advance your own skill set, but also help Tecsys and Canada’s economy excel along with you.