Ucot: A Smart Iot Ecosystem
UCOT
A SMART IOT ECOSYSTEM W r i tten b y: Leo n Liu W ebsi te : www.uco t.wo rl d
C h am pioned b y e s tablished b usi n es s allian ces. As the function connecting manufacturers to suppliers and consumers, the supply chain plays a pivotal role in the commercial world. Thanks to globalisation, we live in a world where different components within the supply chain can seamlessly integrate into a supply chain, regardless of geographic differences. For example, the adoption of Internet-of-Things (IoT) expedites the process in which, say, mobile phones are designed in California, manufactured in China and can be sold in Australia or other retailers around the planet. (China Daily, 2017)
John Baird UCOT CEO
However, this poses multiple threats to the operations and efficiency of supply chains. As supply chains often involve different countries and regions presently, especially for big international corporations, the regulatory and legal issues are, undoubtedly, of significance, and the risk of supply chains data being hacked or tampered is exacerbated. Stakeholders lean on the reliability and traceability of supply chains data, which is difficult to achieve with traditional supply chain solutions.
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Figure 1: Supply chains integrated with IoT are facing multiple challenges (EY 2016) Blockchain technologies are attractive due to their tamper-resistant capacity and traceability, which can be used to upgrade existing supply chains solutions. And one of the pioneers in this field is UCOT (Ubique Chain of Things), which provides a decentralized, secured and structured ecosystem underpinned by 5G telecommunication. This enables stakeholders, such as suppliers and consumers in the supply chain, to gain access to accurate and reliable information. Through various modules designed for Registration, Supplier, Manufacturer, Digital Chip Tracking and User Interface, users of UCOT are able to easily record and/or track information in supply chains even just on mobile phones. This eases the pain of unnecessary costs of tracking data and maintaining supply chains, which are of concern to companies endeavoring to lower their costs and thus to boost profitability, as PwC (2013) explains. Consumers would find UCOT as a trustworthy resort to the lack of confidence in suppliers who implement only traditional supply chain solutions, while suppliers and manufacturers would be benefited from this as well. The tamper-resistant and self-repair capacities of blockchain technology also empower supply chains not only to detect but to restore the tempered data as well, thereby advancing data’s autonomous and self-sufficient attributes.
UCOT can lead to diverse applications. In order to accommodate to varying customer demand, companies can utilize UCOT to configure their supply chains for different customer segments. By doing so, companies
