HNA accelerates blockchain research and implements multiple applications from shared services for employees to customers

Since 2015, many of the world's top commercial banks and investment banks have expressed their intention to deploy blockchain, and blockchain technology has been pushed to the forefront. Major companies that have deployed new technologies have also announced research based on blockchain. Recently,海航集团also announced that it has implemented a number of practical applications based on blockchain technology.

It is understood that as early as 2014, relevant departments of HNA began to get involved in the hottest field of financial technology (Fintech), and have recently rapidly implemented a number of practical applications based on blockchain technology. It is one of the few domestic companies that has achieved actual results in application.

In 2015, HNA Group entered the Fortune Global 500 for the first time, ranking 464th with an operating income of approximately US$25.6 billion. Recently, HNA Group has taken a big step to actively deploy its sixth largest industry sector, HNA Technology, after acquiring the world's largest IT distributor Ingram Micro for US$6 billion. It can be clearly seen that this "giant" enterprise is seizing the strategic opportunity of disruptive development in the information age and is planning a big game in the field of high-tech.

Various blockchain applications have been implemented in HNA, sharing services from employees to customers

In this wave of blockchain research, which is praised as the "real integration of the financial industry and the IT industry", there has been little voice from China. China has a large group of miners and the world's largest exchange, but it is rare to see companies researching and applying blockchain technology. According to previous research on domestic blockchain by CITIC Securities and Sichuan Cai Securities, although many companies have begun to pay attention to blockchain, they are still in the research stage and have no substantial application.

HNA revealed that the group has implemented a series of applications in areas such as采购体系,供应链融资and员工福利to fill this gap.

HNA is also groping forward in the process of implementing blockchain technology. The group's procurement platform relies on blockchain technology to try to connect external merchants (suppliers), using the B-end wallet as the access point, realizing the coupling of blockchain and procurement systems, and providing purchasers and group member companies with procurement information and funds. The circulation and settlement of the entire process are seamlessly connected services, which reduces transaction costs, improves circulation efficiency, and lays the foundation for expanding users and enterprises along the industrial chain; subsequently, in order to provide suppliers with more considerate services and solve the practical difficulties of suppliers in financing difficulties and high financing costs, the ecosystem built by blockchain technology is used to provide support for suppliers to initiate supply chain financing to financial institutions within the scope permitted by supervision, and promote suppliers to obtain financing; then, blockchain technology is boldly applied to the group's welfare field, allowing HNA employees to directly enjoy the rich products brought by interconnection.

Talk less about theory and do more application. The real charm of blockchain is to serve the market.

A person from HNA Group’s Purchasing Department said:

"The biggest advantage of blockchain technology is that it solves the trust problem, which is the biggest obstacle to the interconnection between the real and virtual economies. In the past, everyone was keen to discuss concepts. HNA Group currently has a very good innovation and development environment, which encourages us to make more attempts. Only by boldly trying in the corporate environment can we verify in which aspects this new technology is superior to previous solutions. We applied blockchain technology in the fields of procurement management and employee benefits, conducted a series of experiments, and successfully formed applications that can be implemented. This shows that blockchain technology is attractive and can be implemented, and relying on HNA's resources, there is still huge room for development."
"In addition to the applications that have been implemented above, HNA Group will continue to make more developments. The value of blockchain technology lies in providing a simple, reliable, secure and healthy data solution. The core of this is that it can solve the trust problem between unfamiliar users across platforms. Therefore, combined with HNA Group's aviation, tourism, finance, culture, technology and other resources, we will continue to explore more practical applications in the blockchain field, including points exchange, digital currency, cross-border e-commerce, foreign exchange settlement, Internet of Things, etc. On the one hand, we will continue to apply scenarios, and on the other hand, by using this trust connection, we can share resources with more people and form a shared economy ecosystem."