From financial services to several organizations, blockchain technology is the obvious choice for CIOs to explore strategic business initiatives. Read on to know more…
From financial services to several organizations, blockchain technology is the obvious choice for CIOs to explore strategic business initiatives. More and more organizations are betting on the digital ledger technology as the future for facilitating and verifying business transactions. As such, blockchain technology has the potential to unleash countless new applications and as-yet unrealized capabilities that could transform everything in the next couple of decades.
The Basics
Blockchain is a shared digital ledger for recording transactions. Each transaction among participants in a network is tucked into a record known as a block that is digitally signed to ensure its authenticity and create consensus about the state of transactions at any given second. For instance, every stakeholder in a blockchain-supported supply-chain network receives a copy of the existing authenticated ledger. If an event impacts the supply chain, every party can be assured that what the digital ledger says happened actually happened.
The Potential
Today, the enterprises are putting a premium on digital technologies that can ensure trust in every aspect. Nearly 34 percent of 1,000 respondents to a Deloitte survey report that their organizations are using blockchain in production. Another 41 percent of respondents say they expect their organizations to deploy a blockchain application within the next 12 months.
Consequently, CIOs are under pressure to help guide decisions as to if and how blockchain can be implemented in their enterprises. Organizations that have laid the groundwork to utilize and implement the blockchain technology will be in a better position to differentiate and more effectively compete in their markets and regions.
Spending by enterprises on blockchain networks will reach $2.1 billion this year, topping $9.7 billion by 2021, according to IDC. The researcher cited financial services, distribution services and manufacturing among the leading adopters of blockchain.
Large organizations looking to explore new disruptive business opportunities need to think beyond efficiency gains. And to do so, they need real blockchain solutions. As with major paradigm shifts that preceded it, blockchain will create winners and losers. But if we do this right, blockchain technology can usher in a halcyon age of entrepreneurship, empower us to reinvent our institutions for the better and create a fairer and more prosperous world. This creates significant opportunities and challenges for the CIO. Like other big innovations, such as the PC, the web, mobility and the social web, blockchain experimentation often starts outside the IT function. Thoughtful CIOs should view this as positive because every business will become a blockchain business and every business leader needs to explore opportunities for transformation.
The Road Ahead
For CIOs, it’s necessary to understand what blockchain is and how it works, and more importantly, how the technology can be utilized to further mission-critical business priorities or even disrupt the business completely.
Gone were the days when CIOs used to think that blockchain has yet to go mainstream in the enterprise. Today, the CIOs are excited about the blockchain technology in its ability to scale across an enterprise, offering a network effect of digital trust.
For all the reality, blockchain technology has entered mainstream in the enterprise. This may well be recognized as the technology’s reputation for trusted transactions and continues to grow among IT leaders.
