Get Aboard the taXchain! Digitizing Global Taxes for Supply Chains and Logistics using Blockchain

In this episode we have five guests, yes, five. A V-Next first. They come from 2 global German companies you may of heard of, Siemens and Henkel. We talk about their ambitious goals to create an inclusive digital ecosystem, their journey, and their lessons learned along the way. 

Why taXchain?
There are many different processes in the tax, customs & trade area that require change. Through new technologies there is a lot of potential to digitalize – for example – inefficient and heavy paper-based processes, that are defined by authorities in order to provide proof of ‘original’ documents. 

TaXchain will setup an industry wide standard in the area of tax & customs among companies, suppliers and authorities for data and information exchange on one platform, using Blockchain technology. Your first use case is issuing and demanding Long-Term Supplier Declarations. With your digital solution you also see the potential to digitalize trade data management in terms of efficiency, robustness, and control, which will provide information on the origin of material that is needed to decide if a product is eligible for a free trade agreement or not.

Chapters

• 5:39 taXchain Overview
• 9:07 What do you think are the largest challenges in your industry and what do you think is necessary to overcome them?
• 14:08 Is taXchain open to everyone?
• 17:21 How did you get started?
• 19:07 What drove the collaboration between Siemens and Henkel?
• 20:24 In your own words what value and/or problems does taXchain solve for Siemens?
• 23:23 What's really unique about taXchain versus other existing solutions?
• 25:57 Building an open ecosystem
• 29:40 How is this different from other tax solutions based on blockchain?
• 34:36 COVID-19 impact your direction at all?
• 36:25 When we think of the blockchain journey we often think of it in these major stages: Envision, Formation, Incubation, Operation. What stage are you at now?
• 38:27 Key Aha's Going Through the Digital Ecosystem Strategic Method (DESM)
• 44:15 You’ve decided to use Microsoft Azure Blockchain Service. Tell me more about your decision to move to that platform?
• 48:37 What were some of your learnings on DLT / ledger technologies? Any surprises?
• 53:08 Onboarding customers
• 56:10 Business and operating models for the Digital Ecosystem
• 1:00:37 What else besides blockchain?
• 1:05:10 Technical team key learnings
• 1:07:07 What are the key project management challenges to manage such project
• 1:09:01 Business leadership's key takeaways from the experience
• 1:12:09 What would you do differently?
• 1:18:52 How to contact the team?