Hi Abhijit,
From my point of view, the blockchain technology eliminates the issues of trust. As a consequence (and as you mention), it can eliminate the need for middle-men and therefore reduce cost.
In the supply chain specific space which is my area of expertise, you do also as a consequence have additional benefits in terms of:
x Transparency and traceability (eg. where do the money or the product come from and its whole history)
x Compliance (the technology itself imposes compliance due to its smart contracts)
x Fluidity (transactions happens as per agreement etc)
x Data availability and structure (on which analytics can be applied to)
Let me know if this helped. Obviously all these areas improves the overall performance and accelerates the speed to do business with new partners.

Hi Abhijit,
I think there are a couple of benefits which will only be (fully) understood once such a service/business model is in place. Here's a couple:

• Speed at very low cost: Imagine buying a product (e.g. online) and being able to receive it in a matter of minutes, despite the fact that maybe it is normally produced in a different country or even continent? A blockchain environment will allow a small surplus of products circulating the market and allows fast distribution at a fraction of the cost that can be done today.
• Automatized control: Like financial instruments need control from dedicated institutions (e.g. national and private banks, stock market, etc), supply chains also need 'intermediaries'. The supply chain intermediaries include the distribution channels (warehouses and transportation), retail points (e.g. supermarkets, shops, etc) and ultimately even the consumer himself (which transports from retail points to their consumption location). A blockchain environment will ultimately provide a market operating under the a world-wide net with much faster and easier control of goods. This will allow consumers to have access to the shortest/cheapest distribution (i.e. eliminating expensive intermediary chains) based on the simple database knowledge of "which is the closest product to my location OR which other product close enough to what I need can I source at lower cost".
• Simplicity = faster economy: With the ability to do Smart contracts and establish a true Sharing economy, supply and demand is bound to increase which generates a much stronger economy. A good example is that while a single organization (example: a local government) might not be able to prioritize sourcing certain goods or services (example: because they don't have the funds), a group of people (example: a community) will (example: based on Crowd sourcing).

Here's an analogy that makes a good example from the benefits mentioned above: When an infection is found on the human body, the cells and antibodies on the spot know exactly what is needed to fight the disease and tell the brain (that is an example of sourcing simplicity, with smart contracts with the brain and crowd sourcing). Then the body dispatches more antibodies from increasing the numbers of those already in circulation in the blood stream, producing them at need from nearby nodes or glands (that is an example of speed at a very low cost). These antibodies are told to flow to the right location by a series of signals from the brain (like hormones or nerve signals). While the brain acts like a central control, the cells in the region and antibodies in the blood act as a local control, telling the brain to keep sending or that the situationis under control . (that is an example of automatized control).
Hope this makes as much sense written as it does in my mind :)
Francisco

Hi Abhijit,
As talked I've posted a different question on the open boards - check it out here: https://convetit.com/q368/can-you-predict-the-future-of-supply-chains-does-it-include-blockchain
Didn't have the chance to write about smart contracts or collaboration, but hoping to see some thoughts on those too.
Regards, Francisco