How business-friendly is VeChain? A PESTLE analysis of VeChain’s ecosystem

How business-friendly is VeChain? A PESTLE analysis of VeChain’s ecosystem

by | Guides

With increasing interest in enterprise blockchain applications, in this article we analyze some of the factors that companies might use to examine the VeChain ecosystem.

A PESTLE analysis is an acronym for a tool used to identify the external forces impacting an organization so that investors or stakeholders can make a thorough assessment. The six categories are listed below, click the boxes to expand or collapse them: 

Political

While complete regulatory frameworks are yet to be established, many countries have started to embrace blockchain technology. The European Commission has recognized blockchain’s “potential to bring great improvements to the European industry and citizens” and countries such as China, India and Australia consider it a key strategic technology to develop in the coming years.

VeChain has had remarkable success in multiple regions, as listed below:

  • Been recognized as a suitable smart supply chain management system by the Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (German Federal Office for Information Security) 
  • Signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Invest Cyprus – the investment authority of the Government of Cyprus
  • Signed a Memorandum of Understanding with San Marino Innovation – the Institute for Innovation of the Republic of San Marino
  • Become a founding member of the APAC Provenance Council (which includes Blockchain Australia – an industry body that helps shape Australian government and regulatory policy)
  • Been approved as an authorized blockchain project by the Cyberspace Administration of China
  • Become a founding member of the Belt and Road Initiative Blockchain Alliance (BRIBA) – a consortium that will provide blockchain support for projects and infrastructures of the Belt and Road Initiative (a global development strategy adopted by China that involves 136 countries and more than 30 international organizations across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and parts of Africa)
Economical

For enterprises to adopt new projects, they need to be able to manage risks and see economic value. VeChain’s ecosystem provides business with:

  • Stable, consistent and predictable transaction fees thanks to its VET/VTHO dual-token system 
  • Lower implementation and operating costs – potentially saving expensive dApp development costs thanks to ready-to-use solutions such as ToolChain, MyStory, E-NewHealthLife, StoryBird, FoodGates, NiBchain, etc.
  • Ability to pay for and/or sponsor blockchain usage fees in local currencies thanks to feed delegation systems such as the Multi-Party Payment and VIP191 protocols or ToolChain Credits
  • Ability to bundle multiple clauses into one transaction through VeChain’s Multi-Task Transactions feature – which provides flexibility, better performance and cheaper operational costs
  • Financial support (such as the Foundation Grant) to develop projects that can benefit the VeChain ecosystem
  • For supply chain use cases, companies such as Fresh Supply Co and Producers Market are also developing credit and trade finance solutions that offer suppliers with more attractive payment and insurance terms for products that are tracked on the VeChainThor blockchain
  • Store of value and potentially free transaction costs by holding VET and generating VTHO

As a side note, earlier this year, Goldman Sachs stated that “cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin are not an asset class” as they “do not generate cash flows like bonds” or “any earnings through exposure to global economic growth”. However, this is not the case with VET. The generation of VTHO from holding VET can be considered as “dividend” payments and under a growing global economy, demand for VeChain powered solutions will increase; rising the intrinsic value of VTHO and VET. 

 

Social

COVID-19 has pushed businesses to accelerate their digital transformation plans and encouraged consumers to demand more transparent, sustainable and safer services and products. Changes in social behaviour and consumer trust have become a challenge for businesses.

The blockchain’s decentralized nature lends well to ecosystem and social network building, where users can have the option to own and manage their own data, identity, and assets. With VeChain, businesses can:

  • Receive industry expertise from strategic partners – such as PwC, DNV GL or Deloitte – to assess how to best integrate blockchain into their operations
  • Benefit from advisory services and research reports provided by Cointelegraph Consulting, the largest independent blockchain media platform
  • Obtain 3rd party audits and certifications from accredited registrars to proof and validate product/service quality standards (eg with My Care public facing companies can demonstrate having appropriate infection risk management processes in place and gain consumer trust)
  • Connect and receive direct support from VeChain Foundation developers to troubleshoot technical issues
  • Influence key network strategic and development decisions as a stakeholder – thanks to VeChain’s unique governance and VeVote 
  • Benefit from a strong and engaged community that actively supports the growth of the ecosystem and continuously expands its awareness

 

Technological

As a business-centric blockchain, VeChain’s technological achievements include:

  • Ability to readily combine blockchain with IoT devices to track and trace, authenticate and monitor the quality of products along the supply chain; helping companies to improve operational efficiency and regain consumer trust. For example, VeChain and Avery Dennison are working together to integrate “Avery Dennison’s smart label products and solutions with VeChain ToolChain“.
  • Ability to deploy blockchain solutions with little to no coding knowledge thanks to friendly BaaS solutions such as ToolChain (e.g. enterprises in the food sector can immediately benefit from VeChain’s market ready blockchain food safety solution.
  • Fee delegation systems that remove the need to manage cryptocurrencies and simplify customer onboarding
  • Easy integration with popular platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce/WordPress or HubSpot thanks to solutions developed by companies like Real Items
  • Ability for end users to intuitively interact with the blockchain via smart tags such as NFC, RFID or QR codes
  • High performance, predictable block generation time (approx 10s) and fast network upgrades thanks to VeChainThor’s proof of authority consensus mechanism
  • Scalable and efficient bandwidth usage with PoA 2.0 – Surface
  • Ability to use zero knowledge proofs, which removes the need to store sensitive information on-chain
  • A deployment strategy to protect smart contracts from problems caused by undetected bugs
  • EVM-parity allowing for simple application porting from other blockchains such as Ethereum
  • Subsidies and bounty programs to encourage the development of network improvements and security patches from the community
  • APIs and multi-language SDKs (Python, Java, Javascript, and C#) to make integration possible in third-party apps
  • VeResearch – a global research grant program focused on innovative blockchain technologies and VeChain expansion that includes research partners such as the MIT Media Lab, Dartmouth and Oxford University.
  • At least 45 patents across the world

With a team of developers, scientists, and partnered institutions, VeChain is able to continue improving the platform to add even more features that improve overall user experience and functionality.

Legal
  • With its native fee delegation systems, users of VeChain powered applications do not need to deal cryptocurrencies and can therefore avoid associated regulatory concerns
  • Due to the distributed and immutable nature of public blockchains, VeChain has security and privacy measures that allow businesses to be compliant with GDPR, ISO27001 standards and China Cybersecurity Law regulations when using VeChain powered solutions
  • For supply chain uses cases, being able to track the location and condition of products on real time and verify the information through 3rd parties (eg DNV GL, PwC, Deloitte), can mitigate conflicts between stakeholders and simplify potential insurance claim processes
  • Third-party project Jur is developing an entire legal vertical on the platform, including these secure purchase agreements.
Environmental

In addition to the environmental benefits from having more transparent supply chains and making companies more accountable of their actions, VeChain’s ecosystem has the advantage of:

  • Being more energy efficient than other public blockchains – due to having a non-competitive PoA consensus mechanism that is currently limited to 101 authority nodes
  • Product and process certifications can provide proof of ethical sourcing and best practices to customers
  • Recycling can be incentivized using digital assets linked to products as in this project from DNP Group
  • Product verification can build trust between consumers, donators, and conservation groups like The Ocean Cleanup
  • Having a Digital Low Carbon Ecosystem (co-developed with DNV GL) that encourages consumers and enterprises to adopt more sustainable habits by incentivizing them with carbon credits that can be redeemed for benefits from other participating ecosystem partners (such as retailers or even financial services providers).

 

VeChain is recognized for being one of the most enterprise-friendly blockchains in the world, as evident from their top strategic partnerships with risk assessment firms like PwC (China & Singapore) and DNV GL. It provides developers with the infrastructure to build blockchain services that have similar user experiences as normal internet based applications; and with its ready-to-use sensors, smart tags and turn-key BaaS solutions, it lowers the barrier of entry to blockchain technology for businesses of all sizes.

According to a study by Bill Gross from Idealab, timing and team execution are the two most important factors for a project’s success. Timing is hard to predict, but gauging from the year-on-year consistent increase in enterprise adoption, VeChain is neither too early or too late. Additionally, with the increasing demand for blockchain applications, VeChain has solidified the Foundation with a steering committee and advisory board that include:

Jim Breyer – Founder and CEO of Breyer Capital
Sunny Lu – Former CIO and CTO of Louis Vuitton China
Renato Grottola – SVP, Global Head Digital Assurance and Supply Chain at DNV GL
Antonio Senatore – Global CTO, Deloitte Blockchain Team
CY Cheung – PwC Cybersecurity and Fintech Partner
George Kang – CEO, DNV GL Business Assurance Greater China
James Gong – Founder of LongHash Ventures (a global blockchain incubator supported by Enterprise Singapore) 

It is our conclusion that VeChain is well positioned to help businesses succeed in the digital world.

Growth is currently driven by VeChain (both Foundation and company) and its strategic partners (including DNV GL, PwC China & Singapore, Fresh Supply Co, and CREAM). To accelerate the pace towards mass adoption however, it will be necessary to bring more organizations, developers and channel partners to expand the ecosystem and build new solutions on the public blockchain, especially in regions such as North America, Asia, Australia, and Europe.

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What to expect from PoA 2.0-Surface and VeChain’s current technical advantages

What to expect from PoA 2.0-Surface and VeChain’s current technical advantages

by | News

As more companies join the ecosystem, it is increasingly important to ensure that the network can cope with high activity growth. With this in mind, VeChain is consistently improving the technology behind VeChainThor; currently developing a new consensus algorithm and having at least 42 patents around the world.

In VeChain’s 6th Bootcamp, Peter Zhou – VeChain Chief Scientist – and Zhijie (aka Max) Ren – VeChain Senior Research Scientist – addressed some of the most common questions and shared what to expect from the new PoA 2.0 – SURFACE.

 

What is PoA?

VeChainThor uses a Proof-of-Authority (PoA) consensus; where one of the 101 pre-approved validators (Authority Masternodes) are randomly selected to generate the next block. The model avoids computational competition and enables a faster and more efficient block production. The limited number of “miners”, however, creates centralisation concerns which, according to Peter, is a misconception. As demonstrated by him in the chart below, depending on the perspective, the presence of mining pools in other blockchains actually makes them more centralised than VeChain.

VeChainThor’s scaling solution: It’s all about quality not quantity

There are many ways to scale a blockchain network such as increasing the bandwidth, increasing the block size and/or block frequency, sharding, etc.

VeChain, however, opted to optimise bandwidth with its PoA 2.0 SURFACE (Secure Use-case-adaptive Relatively Fork-free Approach of Chain Extension) consensus.

When a new block is created, time is used in communication overheads, transmission and validation of data, and reaching a consensus to elect the next node to generate a block though. By maximising the percentage of time spent in transmitting data (blue part), more transactions can be included into the block, raising the number transactions per second (TPS) and improving bandwidth efficiency.

Consensus under PoA 1.0:

Consensus under PoA 2.0:

To reduce achieve this, PoA 2.0 proposes the following changes:

Delayed validation: instead of validating the block in the consensus round it is generated, validation is delayed to the next round. This allows the network to transmit and validate blocks simultaneously and in parallel; essentially saving time.

Epoch based random beacon scheduling: instead of deciding on “real-time” which node will generate the next block, a schedule is randomly created in advance (for example one day beforehand) to decide which, and in which order, Authority Masternodes will produce new blocks. This eliminates the time wasted in reaching a consensus every time a block is created.

Relatively fork-free approach: when a new block is generated, it takes time for the block data to reach the Authority Masternodes. Since Masternodes are kept in different locations, they receive the information at different times. By removing block validation and the consensus process from the “round”, the new data doesn’t have enough time to fully propagate, leading to asynchrony problems between nodes and giving the chance for a malicious player to fork the chain and double spend. To avoid this, PoA 2.0 introduces a verifiable random function (VRF) mechanism whereby blocks need to be endorsed by a randomly selected smaller pool of Authority Masternodes to be confirmed. This helps dilute the power of the singular Authority Masternode creating the new block and can potentially reduce the probability of malicious forks to 1%.

To find out more about PoA2.0 SURFACE visit VeChain’s Medium announcement and the preprint paper. 

A business perspective of VeChainThor

 

Many businesses have moved away from Ethereum onto VeChainThor, including Deloitte, Fresh Supply Co and Real Items.

During VeChain’s 7th webinar, Ken Woodruff -co-founder and CTO of Real Items- shared the main advantages VeChainThor brings to his firm.

 

What is Real Items

Real Items aims to bridge the gap between blockchain and consumers, focusing on easy user onboarding and usability. To this goal, they have created VeChainThor integrations for some of the most popular online platforms, such as Shopify and HubSpot, and are currently developing new WeChat, WooCommerce (WordPress) and DeFi enabled supply chain management solutions.

 

VeChainThor’s competitive advantage for enterprises

For Ken, some of the main benefits of building in VeChainThor are:

  • Two-token VET/VTHO model – helps to keep stable and predictable fees (essential to forecast and manage business risks)
  • Multi-Task Transaction (MTT) – allows the ordering and bundling of item creation into one transaction. Simplifying the process and reducing transaction costs
  • Fee delegation – enables sponsors to pay for transfers fees on behalf of users, avoiding customers having to manage cryptocurrencies (vital for enterprise adoption). Currently, fee delation is used in more than 90% of clauses
  • Fixed 101 Authority Masternodes – leads to consistent and predictable block time (10s), allows faster sync between nodes and allows quicker core feature development cycles and hardware and software network updates
  • Solid APIs – ability to work with easier Connect and JAVA API
  • Easy access to VeChain core dev team – allows developers to readily receive technical support when needed
  • VeChain Foundation backing – financial support from the foundation in the form of VTHO donations when milestones are achieved

Percentage of fee delegation clauses in the last 10 days. Credit to VeChainStats.com

VeChain prides itself for being the leading enterprise blockchain platform and businesses are at the core of its innovations. With an ambitious goal to drive mass adoption, it’s great to see that them back their words with actions and have enterprises validate its business friendly ecosystem.

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Viking Line and DNV GL set sail towards a MyCare verified future

Viking Line and DNV GL set sail towards a MyCare verified future

by | News

COVID-19 has slowed down the shipping industry. With more than 700 reported cases in the Diamond Princess and crew members suing their employers for basic safety mismanagement, shipping companies are facing scrutiny in their infection risk prevention policies.

We previously wrote about DNV GL’s new My Care assessment and how it is being adopted by Chinese hotels. Yesterday Viking Line became the first My Care verified maritime business in the world.

MS Amorella – one of Viking Line’s cruiseferries

In a press release, the shipping company confirmed that the verification covers all of their seven Viking Line vessels and operations in six terminals.

“Everyone must be able to travel safely with us. We have long carried out infection risk preventive work and have now chosen to be assessed by a third party to quality-assure our work in conjunction with COVID-19. Our employees’ considerable efforts are impressive. We have achieved this thanks to their skills and engagement” – Jan Hanses, president and CEO of Viking Line.

What are the implications?

Viking Line is a publicly traded company that operates a fleet of ferries and cruiseferries in Finland, Sweden, Estonia and the Åland Islands.

As a shipping firm, their safety guidelines need to consider passengers, crew members and land-based employees from boarding to disembarking. Health guidelines and infectious disease control manuals need to be consistently reviewed and updated, especially in the current COVID-19 crisis. My Care reaffirms the company’s capability to manage and prevent infection risks.

By going online or scanning a QR code, passengers can validate their My Care – Infection Prevention Ready – certification and obtain further information about DNV GL’s assessment. This helps Viking Line regain consumer trust, reassures authorities that their vessels are safe and ready to operate, and potentially empowers Viking Line to negotiate more favourable terms with their insurance providers.

With increased health concerns, 3rd party certified infection risk assessments could become widely adopted and become a new requirement for businesses to operate.

Viking Line’s My Care -Infection Prevention Ready – Certification

“We would like to congratulate Viking Line on its My Care verification. The application of My Care creates trust since the focus is to prevent infectious diseases. It also demonstrates Viking Line’s strong engagement in further developing its HSE (Health, Security & Environment) processes. A third-party assessment provides assurance that the right measures have been taken to protect people, work transparently and increase the trust of passengers and other stakeholders” – Luca Crisciotti, CEO of DNV GL- Business Assurance.

Viking Line’s customers will view the following message after scanning the QR code:

How will this be expanded?

DNV GL is making My Care a focal point of their 2020 business strategy by pushing infection management certification into sectors that rely on a flow of customers from different regions. Possible examples include hospitality, transportation, logistics, tourism, and other similar industries. We’ve already seen multiple hotels in China being certified, proving that businesses and consumers value this third-party verification service. With COVID-19 showing no sign of abating, this doesn’t appear to be a short-term thing either. The ‘new normal’ should see an increase in customer and government sensitivity to infection management, offering a potential long-term market for My Care to occupy. The blockchain could be used to update regular inspection results, safety audits, certifications, and other actions that businesses have an interest in sharing with the public. 

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Humans of Blockchain: Dimitris Neocleous

Humans of Blockchain: Dimitris Neocleous

by | News

Humans of Blockchain is our initiative to highlight the human side of the industry and showcase blockchain professionals around the world. The goal is to get to know the people pushing blockchain forward better and understand them at a personal level. Our previous post in the series was on Sarah Nabaa, and can be read here.

Dimitris Neocleous, VeChain Ecosystem Manager


This time around, we had the pleasure to talk to Dimitris Neocleous, VeChain Ecosystem Manager.

With a background in legal consulting, Dimitris works closely with DNV GL to facilitate the adoption of VeChain solutions in Europe. He played a key role in VeChain’s Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cyprus and currently supports the development of the E-NewHealthLife and E-HCert Apps. As of writing, his VeChain BootCamp webinar is the most viewed episode of the series on YouTube.

In this edition, Dimitris gives us a glimpse into his life and what it means to work for VeChain.

Tell us about yourself and how you got into blockchain

Everything started in 2014 when I bought my first Bitcoins and Dogecoins. Yes, I bought Dogecoins because it was a fun token and full of positivity. In 2017 (it was my senior year in University), during the last lecture of Trusts and Equity in the Spring Semester, my good friend Harry asked the professor what he thought is the industry that will be the next big thing. The response was blockchain so I started reading again about blockchain, but from the perspective of business, and fell in love with Ethereum and the concept of smart contracts.

I never had the chance to attend my class graduation ceremony along with my friends the following summer because I spent all the money my family gave me for tuition fees for buying different crypto. I guess every great love story starts with a weird beginning. 

After a year working with my father in his law firm in Limassol, I decided that I wanted to become a solicitor in London. Having a good portfolio in cryptocurrencies and a law degree gave me the chance to get a good training contract with a big firm in London; taking care of the tuition fees for the Legal Practice Course and working part-time in their office. 

In November 2018, Sunny gave me a call: “man we are expanding, would you like to join our Global Team?”. I knew Sunny from before (MoU between Cyprus and VeChain). I dropped my training contract without a second thought. 

At that time my father felt a bit betrayed and didn’t talk to me for a month. Everything though changed afterwards, because every parent wants to see his child happy. 

What do you consider are your three strongest attributes? How have they helped you in your career?

Well, I am curious, persistent and an underdog. The combination of the three really helps my personal development and career. Being the curious, persistent underdog means I never consider myself good or the best at what I am doing. That leads me to question myself, judge what can make me better and what can make a project I am working on better. I think this is important when you are working in a tech company. There is no perfect product, tech, society or requirement on product. User experiences and expectations evolve therefore the offering should evolve in the same geometric sequence.

Dimitris (far left) with some other familiar faces in China

Can you tell us about your current projects and what excites you the most about them?

The pandemic of COVID-19 forced me to leave London and repatriate in Cyprus in early March 2020. During this period I’ve had the opportunity to work closer with I-DANTE about the delivery of two solutions: the E-NewHealthLife and the E-HCert for the Mediterranean Hospital of Cyprus. 

The details about the two projects have been well covered by your article guys, but I would like to express my excitement about these two solutions. The reason is that for the first time a public blockchain is used for the management of medical records in the most secure and GDPR compliant way. I am not going to share how we achieved that with I-DANTE but just to give you one of the ingredients: zero knowledge protocol. 

What are you most proud of about VeChain and why?

“In this team we fight together, we fight for each other, we are there for each other at any time; not just for work but also for casual talk.”

I talk daily with my colleagues, the current success of the healthcare projects in Cyprus is a team success. 

Photo of the VeChain community meet up in Paris

Sunny, Kevin and Flora, supporting me from day one with these two projects, trusting me and advising me. Gu and the rest of the technical team had some long conversations providing their intel and suggestions even during weekends. I got great support from the central team to support on PR work for such complicated solutions. I also got some tutoring about ToolChain and how to become a better Product Manager. Jason and Sarah… I love to hear these guys, the most positive people I know in my life and very resourceful on how to approach and sell. And lastly, I left my Yoda, Jerome. Being almost everyday on a call with him is like studying an MBA at Harvard University. The knowledge and guidance that he shares with me, I couldn’t ask for a better mentor.

What tips would you give to people looking to start a career in blockchain?

Well, I think these apply everywhere:

  1. Follow your gut and trust your brain
  2. Audentes Fortuna iuvat – Fortune favours the bold
  3. “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards” – as Steve Jobs suggested

This is the trinity mantra I follow everywhere. 

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Well, I have 3. 

My dad. I think almost every son has as a model example his father. My father has been challenging and inspiring me since forever. Great husband, great father, great businessman. Whatever I do in life, I am asking myself what Christos (my father) would have done in the same situation and would he have been proud of me for my actions. 

Dimitris pictured with his father

Another person that really inspires me is Steve Jobs. The way that he cares about the product not to be only powerful but also beautiful, the way he magnetized the audience with the proximity and simplicity in his speech. Steve managed to find the balance between computing power and user experience. He made people want it before they even thought about it. 

And Sunny Lu, the CEO of VeChain, my mentor and friend. Sunny talks about blockchain not the complicated way, but the “love” way; making it understandable in a very beautiful, inspiring way. He reminds me a lot of Steve Jobs but in the blockchain industry. He also has the father figure in the company, I want to make him proud. Whatever I do, I send it to Sunny and the “ Good job man” coming from him is very important to me. 

What are your hobbies?

I love reading books, especially the ones written by John Grisham. I love writing, even though I haven’t written for a while. Golfing with my father, even though I don’t really have the time to do so anymore. But what I keep doing is meditation “à la Dim” – I take my car, put on music and drive for 30-40 mins on the coastal road of Limassol. It’s only me, the music and the road.

What is your guilty pleasure?

Well I love food. Any kind of food. Sometimes I feel like a trash bin. I eat anything (that I am not allergic to) but my weakness is McDonalds. “I’m lovin’ it” 😜

Double cheeseburger – double up, which means 4 patties- only available in Cyprus, and then strawberry pie. Yes my metabolism is good, I should have much more weight.

A fun fact about you?

In Summer of 2008, my family and I were in New York for holidays. During our excursion with the hop-on-hop-off buses, I felt a bit hungry and saw a hot dog station close to Central Park. I got down of the bus by myself for that hot dog station, the best hot dog of my life. My parents literally freaked out… 

What would be your superpower?

I would like to be The Flash because being the fastest man alive means you can do everything on time and have extra time for anything else. You can go back and forth in time and you can say you got hit and survived by a lighting strike.

If your life were a movie or TV show, which one would it be?

Something between:

Suits – because of law
Bing Bang Theory – because I am too Sheldon when I choose where to sit
Good Will Hunting – because I had to go to see about VeChain (in the movie it’s a girl) and dropping out traditional job
Inside Bill Gates Brain – because I am a technophile.

Before you go… Do you have a favourite quote or meme?

“Those who were seen dancing , were thought to be insane by those who couldn’t hear the music.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

For those wishing to learn more about Dimitris and his projects, check out this webinar. With already over 14K views, it’s clear there has been a lot of interest in his decentralized health applications in Cyprus. 

We thank Dimitris for his participation.

Let us know if you have any other suggestions for future editions of Humans of Blockchain at our new Twitter address.

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My Care – DNV GL’s infection risk management and digital certification

My Care – DNV GL’s infection risk management and digital certification

by | News

With governments phasing out lockdown restrictions and with the new normal in mind, DNV GL has launched My Care – an infection risk management assessment that combines DNV GL’s risk and HSE (Health, Safety & Environment) management expertise with the ISRS (International Safety Rating System) maturity approach.

The proprietary methodology is designed to help companies assess, improve and validate their capabilities in preventing and mitigating infection risks in the workplace. Depending on the requirements, two My Care solutions are available; readiness and/or maturity. Both, however, analyse risk management policies based on 6 main criteria: governance, strategy, communication, actions, data analysis and continuous improvement.

My Care inspections are carried by DNV GL experts who, after the assessment, provide clients with insight reports and recommendations based on governmental compliance and industry best practices. When companies meet a benchmark-level, a dedicated digital My Care trust mark linked to a verification statement stored on the blockchain is also granted. Displaying the My Care certificate, enables companies to reassure customers and stakeholders that the right standards and risk-based preventive systems are in place. This certification process, complete with data and analysis from third-party inspections, is a great use of a verified public blockchain. 

In many countries, carrying fire and HSE risk assessments is already compulsory. This is particularly true for public facing businesses which, depending on the sector, might require additional licenses. Food serving companies, for example, usually need to obtain and display food hygiene rating certificates. In a post COVID-19 world, reducing infection risks of emerging pathogens will become vital and accreditations such as My Care could become part of the new norm.

“We have in the past combined our experience and expertise from HSE management systems and maturity models to develop healthcare standards. With My Care, we are building on this proven expertise, tailoring it for application in different industries, to help companies keep people safe.” Luca Crisciotti, CEO of DNV GL – Business Assurance

My Care in Action

It hasn’t taken DNV GL long to land customers. In China, where life has gradually gone back to normal, My Care has picked up a few big clients in the Suzhou Qingshan Hotel Convention Center and Hotel Nikko Suzhou. These clients are willing to go through extensive inspections from DNV GL to prove to their customer base that safety is their utmost priority during the current pandemic recovery. This was announced on June 5th from DNV GL’s Business Assurance team in China.  

The Hotel Nikko Suzhou was particularly gracious in their comment [translated] to DNV GL for their role in the verification process.

“With the help of DNV GL, Suzhou Nikko Hotel has discovered some blind spots and deficiencies during operations and the provision of services to guests, and have now perfected the hotel’s various emergency and standardized management systems. I believe that after this review, the hotel will achieve better performance and development in future management.” – Hotel Nikkon Suzhou

A representative of the Hotel Nikko Suzhou stands with DNV GL’s George Kang (member of the VeChain Steering Committee)

Moving forward, it’s clear that blockchain and third-party verification have a major role in returning businesses to normal. Customers will begin to take health measures more seriously at the commercial areas they frequent, demanding solutions like My Care. Potential government mandates could make My Care certification even more valuable, but it remains to be seen how widely adopted this solution will be. If this extends beyond the private sector to include public spaces like airports, train stations or subway networks, the amount of data could be quite large. All told, it’s good to see how fast DNV GL was able to respond to a crisis, bringing in blockchain technology to give customers a sense of safety as they transition to the ‘new normal’. 

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