SME Member of the Week: Katlas Technology
Katlas Technology is the third of October's SME Member of Week. This month, techUK are highlighting the contributions made by members to improve the local and regional tech scene, playing a vital role in the levelling up agenda through innovation and engagement.
KATLAS is a leading innovator in providing web3.0 secure networks (ecosystems) by design (SNbD) for SMEs seeking to utilize next generation technologies. It launched Blockchain-in-a-Box (BIAB) as a comprehensive, best-in-class suite of modern tools for SMEs to meet the end-to-end challenges of international trade across the internet.
According to research by Sage, 375,000 UK SMEs have exportable goods but are not currently exporting. SMEs who are exporting are also more likely to be based in London (British Business Bank report). Yet, if the UK were to encourage increased international trade with SMEs in different parts of the UK, it could unlock an annual £290billion in the economy.
The UK has some of the widest regional disparities in productivity of all the OECD countries. SMEs across all industries and sectors face many challenges, such as accessing and completing the correct regulatory forms, complying with ever demanding data standards (KYC, ALM, GDPR) and international supply-chain logistics. The next generation of international trade is expected to include a greater degree of computer assisted diagnostics and automated market discovery and order matching. This is inevitable, as we don’t have the money to pay enough skilled, often paper-based, technicians to meet the demand for administrative, regulatory and financial reporting.
Currently, SMEs have no single version of themselves in a portable mobile wallet, that they can share with local authorities, customs and excise, Defra, Port Authorities and shipping agents. Instead they are obliged to repeat manual documentation many times over to meet sustainability, and regulatory KPIs but without the modern tools and capabilities at hand.
Therefore, for SMEs based in the Midlands, North West and North East of the country levelling-up isn’t a hand-out. Rather, developing better technology infrastructure and adoption outside of London and the South-East can transform SMEs exporting potential. There is no good reason why SMEs in places such as Wales or Northern Ireland should not have the same access to international markets as anywhere else in the UK.
There is an answer already, with the potential to mobilise and restore the industrial potential of SMEs across all regions of Britain, to open up markets and international trading activity, whilst still meeting key sustainability targets, at no extra cost, in fact massively reducing data reporting as a percentage of margin. But it can only be done with zero-trust automation using interoperable open source technologies, by which we mean systems that talk to each other without barriers, and that are Digitally Secure by Design (DSbD) as a standard for the management of sensitive data.
This can be achieved on a mobile network today – it is being used in health systems to manage patient data with complete safety and anonymity, and it can be readily applied to the management of enterprise data for SMEs. A light accessible infrastructure enabled with smart public algorithms that SMEs can run locally on their data to inform best discovery and execution, that doesn’t leak confidential data to the advantage of competitors’ trading algorithms.
The solution is distributed ledger technology (DLT), which rather like Cloud Computing, is hocus pocus outside technology circles, but nevertheless, must be embraced for government to deliver services efficaciously and open opportunities across the UK.
Blockchain secured DLT solution is vital in order to allow SMEs the opportunity, tools, and power to trade and export effectively and efficiently worldwide at a fraction of the cost. SMEs can create, access and prescribe questionnaires necessary for fulfilment (credentials, insurances, SLAs) and monitor the IOT inputs and other authorisations and payments, along the trade journey. This can bring intelligence that verifiable data can bring to supply chains and customer fulfilment. After all, a happy customer rewards a good business that drives the local economy.
Blockchain will securely place these convergent technologies at the core of digital trade, delivering benefits of automation efficiency, transparency, provenance and trust and with the ability to reduce fraud, lower costs and improve network security.
Recent Success
As a Tier One partner of Digital Security by Design KATLAS are the preferred standard for supplying to prominent government sponsored projects such as The Single Trade Window, Maritime Accelerator and Digital Health incubators, that are bringing zero-trust automation for cyber-physical systems connecting robotics, 3-D printing, wireless communications, medical devices, machine sensors, artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Company Background
KATLAS launched Blockchain-in-a-Box (BIAB) as a comprehensive, best-in-class suite of modern tools for SMEs to meet the end-to-end challenges of international trade across the internet. By owning a portable ‘web3.0 internet account’, SMES can face their markets directly, competing from anywhere in UK, by deploying the most modern secure, scalable and cost effective blockchain-as-a service available yet – in turn, enabling SMEs to manage their sustainability and reporting KPIs.
More information
Visit the Katlas Technology website: https://katlastechnology.com/
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/katlas-technology/
SME Member of the Week: November, Sustainability
For November's SME Member of the Week, we’ll be focusing on sustainability, with the COP27 summit due to take place throughout the month. We're looking for SMEs who have made an impact on the transition to net zero, either through developing technology to combat the climate crisis or showcasing what they've done to reduce their own carbon emissions. Submit your case study here.
techUK – Building Stronger Local Economies
techUK champions the tech sector throughout the UK. We work with local authorities, devolved government, and local and national policy makers to advocate for the tech sector in strengthening economic growth and resilience. We provide opportunities for our members and local stakeholders to meet, build relationships, and collaborate to drive forward local projects. For more information or to get in touch, please visit our Nations and Regions Hub and click 'contact us'.
