Dubai, UAE, 20 November 2018: Food wastage is a problem within the food supply chain and transport refrigeration industries that needs immediate attention, said Sameer Areff, Chief Operating Officer, SAP, Middle East South, while elaborating on the potential benefit Blockchain technology can bring to the food supply and cold chain industries. He said, “There is a need for transparency within the system and most businesses within the food supply and cold chain today work in silos.” There is an immediate need to shift focus to the end-user, while understanding the quality of the product being delivered to them, he further said. “We also need a mechanism to detect counterfeit practices, products and equipment within the industry,” he added.

Sameer Areff, Chief Operating Officer, SAP, Middle East South

Referring to Blockchain technology as a key pivot, Areff said, “Before any business or industry considers diving into the blockchain, there is a need to understand use cases, explore Proof of Concepts and then get into the execution stage.” The skill, he said is available; however, he added, it is vital to strip the noise out in a decentralised and organised fashion.

Highlighting SAP’s contribution to Blockchain in the MENA region, Areff said, “We are a part of an online community of 4,000 Blockchain experts, who work at a macro level.” Elaborating, he said, the company has worked with a number of companies to help devise an effective Blockchain strategy; for instance, it has used Blockchain in real estate, where it connected the information about a property to its tenants, owners and contractors of the project. As a software company, he said, it has over 400,0000 customers in both public and private sectors, across 26 industries. While there are numerous software companies that aid businesses through their digital transformation, he reiterated the need to understand the nature of a business, while weighing the pros and cons to the adoption of a Blockchain strategy, before deep diving into it.