Aricent is a global design and engineering company that helps companies solve their most complex and mission-critical issues through customized solutions. In partnership with the Digital Supply Chain Institute (DSCI), a nonprofit research organization focused on evolution of supply chain solutions in the digital economy, Bitfury and Aricent established a pilot project to create and study the innovative applications of blockchain for product supply chains.
The goal of the project was to pilot a blockchain solution for optimization of DevOps and software development processes. Since development teams are often large and consist of people from different countries and time zones, it can be difficult to ensure cooperation and sharing of relevant information.
DevOps itself includes many steps, and each is carried out by different people and teams (legal, security, IP rights compliance, etc.), working independently and in parallel with each other. There was a need for a scalable solution to manage workflow across large, diverse and geographically dispersed development teams. The pilot was also designed to better track deadlines and the cost of development, helping increase revenue and improve efficiencies.
A six-month series of proof-of-concept projects built on Exonum proved that a blockchain-enabled software development tracker increased developer performance, lowered product cycle time and improved fault resolution time. The solution’s built-in Exonum smart contracts automatically started all negotiated DevOps, which eliminated delays. Second, all data was stored and synchronized on all devices connected to the system. This data could not be changed without the consent of all participants, delivering greater transparency.
The project data helped DSCI develop the Blockchain Return Index (BRI), a tool that will help companies, independent of industry, measure the business impact of blockchain technology on their supply chain.