Digital Transformation Consulting

The case study focuses on the diamond industry, specifically addressing the challenge of ensuring transparency and ethical sourcing throughout the diamond supply chain. The client faced issues related to the lack of comprehensive provenance tracking for diamonds, which made it difficult for consumers and industry stakeholders to verify origin and ethical credentials. There was a need for a secure, tamper-proof system that could provide detailed, trustworthy records from mine to market, thereby building consumer confidence in ethically sourced diamonds.

The tailored solution involved developing Tracr, a blockchain-based platform jointly created by the De Beers Group and Accenture, capable of creating a traceable and immutable record of a diamond’s provenance. This platform assigns each diamond a unique digital identity embedded with key characteristics such as carat, clarity, color, cut, and origin. Using IoT and AI technologies, these identities are securely recorded on the blockchain at each stage of the diamond's journey, from rough to polished, with digital scans and videos uploaded during registration. The process includes a "Tracr Rough Check," where scans from producers and manufacturers are compared to prevent substitution, ensuring data integrity throughout the supply chain. The solution emphasizes security through advanced encryption, access control, and compliance with global security standards, allowing all participants seamless and secure data sharing.

Quantifiable and unique benefits include the registration of over two-thirds of De Beers' global production by value on the platform, encompassing more than 2.8 million rough diamonds with a combined value of US$3.4 billion. The platform’s expansion to onboard multiple industry players and its collaboration with Sarine Technologies aim to further enhance the scalability and reliability of diamond traceability. The integration with Sarine’s Diamond Journey™ system is designed to deliver a cost-effective, scalable verification process that meets increasing consumer demands for transparency. As a result, Tracr is establishing new industry benchmarks for ethical sourcing, significantly reducing the risk of illicit diamonds entering the supply chain and enabling consumers to purchase with greater confidence that their diamonds are responsibly sourced and ethically verified.