Today, the Billon Group announced a proof of concept (PoC) with Poland’s Tauron to use blockchain for storage and delivery of contracts to the latter’s clients. Billon Digital Services is providing the company’s blockchain-based document management solution for the energy utility company.
Tauron is a state-run utility company and is the second-largest electricity distributor in Poland. The company services over 5.5 million customers in the country.
Under the deal with Billon, Tauron will test the document management system for document signing, sharing over the blockchain, and saving contracts on the chain. These documents will be available for any future reference, likely even after the customer has stopped using Tauron’s services.
Energy contracts can be especially complicated for businesses and involve a lot of paperwork. Using blockchain, Tauron will enable its customers to digitize the documentation process, a pressing need in the current social distancing environment. Additionally, it aims to use the blockchain for publishing public documents such as terms and conditions and general tariffs.
“By introducing a secure digital tool to facilitate customer service, we respond to the importance of digital technologies and their widespread use by consumers,” said Filip Grzegorczyk, President of Tauron Management Board.
While digitization is one benefit, Tauron wants to reduce paper-based communication, which was done using mail until now. By leveraging blockchain, it can reduce the use of paper, save costs, while increasing the security of contract transfer and delivery.
The PoC will include a group of 100 Tauron clients who have tested the solution until the end of April. Meanwhile, Microsoft Azure cloud will be used to host the blockchain nodes.
The Billon Group is a blockchain fintech and is registered as an e-money issuer in the UK and Poland. It has two solutions — Trusted Document Management and Accounts & Transactions. Tauron will be using the first one.
Billon Group has secure with projects in Poland with government agencies and now with one of the biggest enterprises of the country. Last month, its document management platform for the Polish Credit Office went into production, which allows retail banks to send notifications to customers. More recently, insurer LINK4 adopted the solution for client contracts.
Billon Group has raised a total of $16 million to date, and investors include FIS, Rising Tide, Mencey Capital, and VCF IIIa, among others.
