High-security collaboration with the integration of ECM and blockchain
SER is the first ECM vendor to intelligently integrate ECM and blockchain technology. While others are still discussing the opportunities of blockchain and ECM, SER, Europe’s largest independent ECM vendor, has launched a POS (proof of store) solution: Doxis4Cloud unites the benefits of ECM collaboration among internal and external partners with an extra layer of security and trust by adding blockchain functionalities. The blockchain acts as a security guard for all parties involved, eliminating the possible mistrust against the owner of the collaboration platform.
In addition to the vast existing security measures in SER’s software solution, the POS module was added to Doxis4Cloud. It catalogs all Doxis4 documents and their versions in Ethereum in a way that anyone can list and validate the documents stored in Doxis4Cloud. Thus, the inviolable nature of the Ethereumblockchain network ensures consensus among participants regarding the documents, their existence and authenticity.
“We are proud to present the first integration of Doxis4 and blockchain. With this we give internationally operating teams of internal and external parties a solid and secure solution to add an extra layer of trust and reliability to their collaboration efforts,” says Morad Rhlid, Managing Director of SER Solutions International. “From idea to proof of store in only a few months marks the strengths and knowledge with which we innovate and further develop our platform,” adds Rhlid.
To make the most out of this connection, Ethereum and Doxis4Cloud work hand in hand to further boost security measures. The cataloging process is based on Ethereum smart contracts in which the document hash values and a set of eligible identifying metadata, such as the file name, are stored in the blockchain’s distributed ledger. Afterwards, this metadata can be retrieved in order to prove the existence of a certain document and validate its integrity.
The smart contract itself provides a set of compression methods that enables the iteratively listing of all cataloged documents, searches for a specific document by its metadata, and the retrieval of the document hash value, which can be easily used to validate the document integrity. Although the POS module has a user-friendly way to invoke these methods, the same methods can be easily invoked using third-party frontends in order to keep the validation process completely unbiased. One example of such a third party is myetherwallet.com, which can be used by just having the smart contract address.
Furthermore, as long as the 20,000 and more nodes – spread across the globe that constitute the Ethereum network – keep the ledger alive, the document listing will be available independently of the availability of the content management platform.
The POS module is just a first step in SER’s journey towards blockchain integration, while the company is constantly looking into future use cases and opportunities.
