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Tech giant Accenture has announced the launch of a new blockchain-based marketplace that will allow vetting, approving and onboarding its suppliers.
Called True Supplier Marketplace, the solution has been jointly developed by the firm’s internal IT and Accenture Technology blockchain organizations. It was built upon the firm’s experience in developing Accenture Blockchain for Contracts.
“The platform brings buyer teams and suppliers together onto a single platform puts supplier data ownership and responsibility in the hands of the suppliers, and is on a blockchain network accessible by a distributed application so the data can be shared easily and securely,” Accenture explains.
The solution integrates with Accenture’s SAP enterprise system and will help automate downstream source-to-pay actions, such as prepopulating digital contracts and data provided into invoicing and payment solutions. Accenture said that True Supplier Marketplace has radically improved its approach to enable suppliers and manage the relationships.
The solution will help reduce costs through reduced effort duplication, end-to-end data mutualization, automation of manual work, and reduced audit and tracking, it said.
Accenture claimed that True Supplier Marketplace helped achieve more than 95% compliance rate through embedded risk assessments and workflow logic, 73% reduction in time to onboard a supplier end to end—from 15 days to 4 days, and 39% reduction in manual data entry through a reduction in number of questions and through automation, thereby improving overall efficiency.
“True Supplier Marketplace’s use of blockchain technology facilitates the creation of a decentralized marketplace for buyers and suppliers, speeds the formation of new business relations, confirms data synchronicity between parties, and provides tamper-evident auditability for transactions,” the announcement reads.
The solution is already in production and is being offered as a blockchain software-as-a-service (SaaS)-like service to businesses to support a wide range of supplier management needs. Accenture said that True Supplier Marketplace is among the first live production blockchain solutions in the market.
