29 Mar THE IMPORTANCE OF BLOCKCHAIN AS A SERVICE FOR THE ENTERPRISE
The greatest invention of the last decade is blockchain which is the foundation technology for digital currencies. Blockchain allows users to record and reconcile transactions across a transparent, secure distributed digital ledger. While it was gaining popularity with Bitcoin and other altcoins, this methodology is rooted in the world of finance.
In recent years, blockchain technology has gained the interest in the enterprise sector. With this interest, proof of concept (POC) blockchain deployments have been running with IBM’s Hyperledger, for example. The outcomes of these POCs are showing successful results and have the potential to revolutionize the way we conduct business many industries.
According to a new report by analyst firm Gartner, enterprises are recognizing the value blockchain has to offer by doubling down on their investments, expected to reach $2.1 billion this year. We expect 2018 to be the year of POCs for big enterprises that can afford the roll-outs. Examples of those companies today are Walmart and Western Union.
For those of you who would like to explore blockchain applications but haven’t tried because of complexity or cost concerns, Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) is available. This new model aims to disrupt the current and expensive pattern of in-house blockchain R&D by lowering the cost barrier for entry. It will replace the proprietary blockchain concept with a platform created by a third party IBM. The aim of this service is to enable the enterprise to simply pay a usage fee which lowers cost.
The new technology has its complexities. If you need help assessing an outsourced management team with the BaaS solutions we can help. We have helped with the below challenges:
- No one knows Blockchain. Often, the first roadblock to exploring blockchain in the enterprise is lack of experienced developers. BaaS solves this problem by replacing a developer with an already existing platform and if it requires custom modifications to meet your goals, vendors and a consultants can fill the gap.
- What type of Cloud?The big question is: “Should the solution operate on the public cloud, a private network or in a hybrid environment?” With public ledgers, the ledger must be accessible to thousands of users who will validate each transaction by consensus before it can be recorded. This might not work well in the enterprise setting where data and transactions may need to be visible to just a subset of users, not the entire network. In this case, a private or permissioned ledger would present a better solution. And in some cases the best BaaS platform is a combination of the two.
Please contact us if you are interested in exploring BaaS. Our team has extensive experience helping enterprises assess and deploy blockchain solutions.