Human resources firm Ranstad, which recently became global leader in the sector, has chosen to further automate its workflow using a smart contracts-focused blockchain.

The firm’s 40,000 employees will be using an enterprise blockchain solution from New York-based Cypherium, which has struck partnerships with major cloud providers Google Cloud Wing, IBM Cloud, and Amazon Web Services.

All of the paperwork-intensive processes involved in HR allocation, Randstad revealed on Feb. 28, will soon be automated using the platform in conjunction with Google Cloud.

Automating verification

Cypherium has a hybrid design, combining two consensus mechanisms: Proof-of-Work (PoW) and HotStuff (also used for Facebook's Libra). This protocol, it claims, is highly scalable yet also preserves both privacy and decentralization. The platform uses a Turing-complete virtual machine written in Java to run its smart contracts.

Randstad expects that using the blockchain will greatly reduce human error and save time, particularly when it comes to key bureaucratic tasks involved in HR work — payments, as well as verifying academic and professional qualifications and personal identity data.

Verifying this information will rely on cooperation with official sources, such as public authorities, who will need to publish hashes of digital certificates onto the Cypherium public chain.

To safeguard individuals’ privacy, Cypherium’s approach will combine cryptographic hashing, metadata and a system of digital signatures that can remove the need to store the sensitive data itself. It also incorporates a Decentralized Identifiers standard to further protect users.

In a statement, Randstand’s global collaboration manager, Frank van der Bijl, said that above all the firm wanted to find an easy solution:

“Google Compute Engine and the Cypherium blockchain have proven the ideal combination for us. Both can be accessed with a few clicks; there’s no need to worry about building everything ourselves, installing other apps, or maintenance.”

Last fall, Big Four audit firm Deloitte integrated a privacy solution from cryptography startup QEDIT for its own blockchain platform, Eduscrypt, which is designed to enable organizations to track, share, and validate staff qualifications.