Fabio Zoffi, the CEO and Chairman of ORS Group had a few things to say about his journey to the blockchain shores.
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My journey towards the blockchain shores is revealing itself like a musical composition of what I have been reasoning and partially acting upon in the last few years — the true nature of capitalism and money, how to turn technologies into successful businesses, the advancement of scientific knowledge such as robotics and A.I., and the consequences for society.
I am a passionate tech entrepreneur, because being an entrepreneur is the best way I have found to be really free and to be an artist at the same time (I am completely untalented in the fine arts); as dreaming of a venture first in my mind and then transforming it into reality is an amazing piece of creative work. Talented painters would probably disagree with me, but if only they knew how Picasso-messy startup phases are…
When I first met Pierluigi, my friend, the founder and products mastermind of ORS, and I discovered the amazing algorithms and software he and other brilliant minds had created over many years, I could not believe my eyes: here is, in the Piedmont region of Italy ( better known for excellent wines, truffles and home of the Nutella inventor) a company “not even Silicon Valley has!” I am aware how many friends I am making right now with this bold claim.
I found over 1,000 unique algorithms (A.I., statistics, mathematics, econometrics, machine learning, etc.) and hundreds of software solutions embedding such algorithms for optimizing (i.e., increase efficiency) and even automatically steering very complex processes and value chains for global customers worldwide. Wow, I mean, it was crystal clear to me that data is the new oil, but here in the idyllic, truffles infused city of Alba I had found an incredible “refinery”, able to turn Big Data into cash (indeed, that was the new claim I then created for the company).
What differentiates ORS and makes our story unique? Let me give you just one example: For a global manufacturing and retail company with over $10B in sales, our A.I.-based software is deciding in real time the yearly distribution of 20M items to almost 300k customers from a network of 200 distribution centers and warehouses. And in taking such decisions (“whom should receive what, when and how?”), the algos optimize the whole supply chain and even send commands to SAP for execution. The significant results are a 50% reduction in inventories and $200M in savings every year.
When I discovered the impressive number of algorithms and software modules available at ORS, I felt like a kid in Legoland: here I would have the possibility of playing with, combining and mixing together pieces of technologies for innovating many business models. The dream of almost any entrepreneur was suddenly my reality!
In 2017 the fruits were ripe. A soon to be professor in engineering had just joined ORS and he had a few students working with him on a blockchain scientific paper. I finally had someone with whom I could pose a few technical questions to (how does it really work? What kind of coding and possibilities, etc.) and we started a very fascinating conversation. On the way back home, suddenly I was struck blind by lightning and I understood how powerful the combination of A.I. with blockchain and with smart contracts could be for helping businesses achieve what I am calling efficiency singularity, i.e. the theoretical maximum efficiency / productivity achievable. Why that? Simply put: any value chain is basically composed of three major flows: (i) the flow of goods/services; (ii) the flow of information; (iii) the flow of payments.
ORS, thanks to its algorithms, is already able to “extract” very high efficiency — conditioned upon data availability — from the processes related to the movement of goods/services within a value chain (from a very small Asian sub-supplier to the end consumers), by synchronizing the activities of all the participants, even independent ones. But the flows of information, documents and payments are still very slow, cumbersome and somehow stuck in the “Middle Ages.” The Columbus’ egg was to understand that blockchain can be used for collaboratively collecting and sharing information (even using crypto rewards to incentivize the sharing) and that Ethereum smart contracts are very useful for executing instant payments without financial intermediaries.
What a beauty ! Three technologies (A.I., blockchain, smart contracts) to be “stitched ” together (I know, I know, the Italian tailor maestro is still here) for creating and improving almost any business model. This is how the concept of the Hypersmart Contract was born and that is how I reached the marvelous blockchain shores.
The ORS Group is a software company of more than 100 IT developers and scientists. It boasts over 20 years of experience in delivering sophisticated A.I.-based optimization software solutions to a large international client base (www.ors.ai). Their new product, the Hypersmart Contracts provide access to more than 1,000 proprietary algorithms and hundreds of software solutions to the Crypto Community and to established businesses (www.orsgroup.io).
At ORS, we envision a global network of entrepreneurs and independent companies empowered by our ABC technology building blocks: Algorithms, Blockchain, and Cryptocurrency.
They have successfully collected €10M during their private sale which sold out in a matter of days. They are aiming to collect an additional €15M during their Crowdsale which launches on 28 April 2018.
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