IBM, INVICTUS to create online platform for SMEs

It can manage transactions made by SMEs with suppliers, banks.

IBM and Singapore fintech startup INVICTUS are working together to create an Order, Logistic, and Payment (OLP) platform aimed at helping businesses reduce wastage, redundancy, and cash-flow issues.

The platform, which uses the IBM Cloud and Blockchain technologies, seeks to manage transactions between small and medium enterprises, suppliers, banks, and other liquidity providers.

A founding member of the Linux Foundation’s open-source Hyperledger Project, IBM is helping build the foundation for business-ready blockchain architecture with a focus on privacy and confidentiality, as well as help customers identify and build the right app.

“We are focussing on taking the chronic pain out of the last mile of a transaction by expanding access to financing from third-party liquidity providers, in addition to banks, and we hope to disrupt this last mile by enabling secure and cashless financing as early as the PO stage,” said Mr Lim Soon Hock, chairman of INVICTUS.

Jeffrey Lam, chief operating officer and vice president of sales of INVICTUS, also highlighted the importance of using technology to enhance business operations. “Being a startup ourselves, we know running an enterprise with limited resources can be challenging,” he said, adding that blockchain technology has the capabilities to improve operational efficiency and reduce transaction risks.

Meanwhile, Alan Lim, practice lead for IBM Blockchain and Bluemix Garage, ASEAN, underscored the company’s commitment to pursue disruptive innovations in business. “Through IBM Blockchain, we are empowering businesses to digitise transaction workflow through a highly secure, shared, and replicated ledger,” he said.

Blockchain is one of the advanced services available on Bluemix, on which more than 120,000 apps are launched every month.