Repsol, Ferrovial, Banco Sabadell, Cepsa, Grupo Red Eléctrica, and MAPFRE are driving the first blockchain platform that will connect them with their nearly 150,000 providers.
The digital identity of the primary providers of companies may, from now on, be created in blockchain. The platform that will make it possible was just born under the name DIGITALIS. This project, initially fostered by Repsol and Ferrovial, has the support of other large companies like Banco Sabadell, Cepsa, Grupo Red Eléctrica, and MAPFRE. DIGITALIS applies blockchain technology about verifying providers’ documentation, something that usually stems from complicated certification and validation processes. The objective is making the relationship between corporations and their providers more agile, efficient, and secure.
The initiative, technologically developed by the consulting firm Grant Thornton, seeks to create a unique digital identity for provider businesses, taking advantage of the capacities and potential of blockchain, and using the leading standard protocol promoted by the Alastria association, which all the participants supporting this project belong to.
This way, providers will be able to manage their own digital identity through a verification process shared by all of these corporations. Each certificate and document revised by their client companies will be unambiguously, immutably validated and recorded over their digital identity, and any subsequent contract process can be reused with the same identity or with other client companies, without needed to repeat the operation.
This model means a reduction in administrative and bureaucratic paperwork, thereby achieving an increase in the agility and efficiency in business relationships with providers.
According to the heads of the project, this initiative is looking for a common solution to shared problems, changing the relationships between businesses so that they go from being competitors to collaborators, and the way of working and interacting with providers. Collaboration between these businesses is constituted as one of the most extensive open innovation initiatives in our country and a leader in the philosophy inherent to blockchain, which seeks to generate synergies and share a common ecosystem.
Providers identified under the Alastria ID
The project incorporates businesses from fields like energy, infrastructure, finance, and insurance, managing between all of them over 4 million operations each year, with close to 150,000 providers, which gives an idea of the initiative’s potential and scalability.
DIGITALIS will use the digital identity protocol that Alastria uses, thereby showing these six companies’ commitment to the association and their blockchain network. They’re also looking to promote knowledge and adoption of the technology between businesses and professionals they are often in communication with, as well as public administrations and certification entities that also participate in the processes with providers.
The project, which includes an initial 6-month long concept test, was launched on 6 May, and includes analysis, development and testing of the solution within the defined implementation plan.
