Top Blockchain Challenges For CIOs

Blockchain provides the potential to drive transformation across numerous business processes in multiple industries, generating cost savings worth billions of dollars and creating trust for complex ecosystems. Gartner research now forecasts that Blockchain will generate an annual business value of over $175 billion by 2025 and rise to over $3 trillion by 2030. 

But many companies are still struggling to figure out how they can successfully use the distributed ledger technology.
Now that the hype has faded, the blockchain market is settling into a nice groove, said Avivah Litan, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

"It's not a big revolution, it's a gradual evolution with incremental improvement," Litan said. "But there are some good, solid use cases where blockchain is being used as a shared single version of the truth, for audit trains, record keeping, and asset tracking."

Blockchain adoption is steadily increasing, according to Gartner, moving from about 1% of organisations running product pilots to 3.3% in the past year.

Much of the enterprise hype around blockchain was tied to the price of Bitcoin, Litan said. But with that hype dissipating, companies are beginning to find actual use cases and possibilities that the technology offers that didn't exist before.
For example, about 70% of extra virgin olive oil sold in stores isn't actually extra virgin, Litan said. In the future, with blockchain, you will be able to go to the store, take a photo of a barcode or QR code, and trace the provenance of that olive oil to ensure its quality.

"Those projects are still being piloted, but that's where it starts getting transformative, because the blockchain enables multiple parties to participate in this multi-party business process, where no one is in control," Litan said. "You can't get that with other technologies."

The world is about five years away from blockchain becoming mainstream, Litan predicted, in large part because major corporations like Walmart are just now beginning to use it.

"Blockchain is just going to be a pillar," Litan said. "It's not going to be the key point of the project, but just the data structure for sharing information across multiple parties, so everyone operates off the same page."

The Top Challenges To Implementing Blockchain

Despite the potential opportunities, organisations still face the following challenges when it comes to implementing blockchain, according to Litan:

Skills gap
Because blockchain is not yet a mainstream technology, there are very few professionals with skills in this area, Litan said. Many companies are looking to consulting firms or vendors for assistance, but then worry about lock-in. 

Lack of standards
Few standards around blockchain use exist, which is a particular problem for fields like healthcare, Litan said. "Until you have standards, you really can't share information in the classical sense," she added. 

Integration with legacy systems
Blockchain must integrate with legacy technologies so that businesses can exchange information in a meaningful way, Litan said. In some industries, this is a major obstacle.

Lack of understanding of what Blockchain is
"People just don't understand the technology, or know what it's good for," Litan said. For enterprise success, blockchain needs to be a consortium effort—never something used only internally, she added. A lot of this comes down to a lack of governance as well, Litan said. 

"There are a lot of challenges, but everything starts out like this," Litan said. "It's always going to be immature until you get your feet wet and start working with it." Start small, on a narrow but important project, she recommended. 

For example, a hospital group shouldn't jump right into adding electronic health records to the blockchain, but might instead work on creating a provider directory that multiple agencies share a right to. 

"There isn't a single business that can succeed if it doesn't have multi-party business processes, every business is either buying or selling to another business or customers," Litan said. 

"Blockchain solves a problem, because you have this immutable audit trail, and no one can really argue about what happens."

TechRepublic:           Gartner

You Might Also Read: 

Unleash Blockchain Into Your Supply Chain:

Scalability On Blockchain - Is There A Solution?:

« Britain's National Cyber Security Strategy Beyond 2021
Naval Hacker Team To Fight Drones »

Infosecurity Europe
CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

CSI Consulting Services

CSI Consulting Services

Get Advice From The Experts: * Training * Penetration Testing * Data Governance * GDPR Compliance. Connecting you to the best in the business.

XYPRO Technology

XYPRO Technology

XYPRO is the market leader in HPE Non-Stop Security, Risk Management and Compliance.

Directory of Cyber Security Suppliers

Directory of Cyber Security Suppliers

Our Supplier Directory lists 7,000+ specialist cyber security service providers in 128 countries worldwide. IS YOUR ORGANISATION LISTED?

CYRIN

CYRIN

CYRIN® Cyber Range. Real Tools, Real Attacks, Real Scenarios. See why leading educational institutions and companies in the U.S. have begun to adopt the CYRIN® system.

NordLayer

NordLayer

NordLayer is an adaptive network access security solution for modern businesses — from the world’s most trusted cybersecurity brand, Nord Security. 

CERT-SE

CERT-SE

CERT-SE is the national and governmental Computer Security Incident Response Team of Sweden.

Law Enforcement Cyber Center (LECC)

Law Enforcement Cyber Center (LECC)

LECC is designed to assist police, digital forensic investigators, detectives, and prosecutors who are investigating and preventing crimes that involve technology.

Lloyd's

Lloyd's

As an insurance market, Lloyd’s can provide access to more than 65 expert cyber risk insurers in one place.

Dubex

Dubex

Dubex is Denmark's leading business-oriented IT security specialist.

Redjack

Redjack

Redjack is a cutting-edge network analytics company focused on enterprise and ISP security and intelligence solutions.

Liquid Technology

Liquid Technology

Liquid Technology provide DOD- and NIST-compliant data destruction and EPA-compliant e-waste disposal and recycling services throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

NJVC

NJVC

NJVC delivers IT automation, optimization and security to empower mission-enabling IT for customers with secure requirements.

Defentry

Defentry

Defentry have created an Ecosystem that lets our users easily monitor, train and resolve their digital security issues.

Seccuri

Seccuri

Seccuri is a unique global cybersecurity talent tech platform. Use our specialized AI algorithm to grow and improve the cybersecurity workforce.

Ostrich Cyber-Risk

Ostrich Cyber-Risk

Ostrich Cyber-Risk is a risk management company that helps organizations reduce the complexity of identifying financial and operational risks related to your cybersecurity posture.

MLSecOps Community

MLSecOps Community

The MLSecOps Community is a collaborative space for machine learning security experts and industry leaders to connect and shape the future of AI/ML security.

ANSSI Burkina Faso

ANSSI Burkina Faso

ANSSI is responsible for managing the security of information systems and cyberspace in Burkina Faso.

Keepit

Keepit

Keepit offer all-inclusive, secure, and reliable backup and recovery services for your data.

Capzul

Capzul

Capzul are transforming the network security landscape with a new approach; creating virtually impenetrable networks, precluding cybercriminal attacks on your network ecosystem.

Cylerian

Cylerian

Cylerian is a Next Generation SaaS Security Platform - One unified cloud platform to achieve your security, compliance, and operational objectives.

Sinergi Digital

Sinergi Digital

Sinergi Digital is a business unit of the Metrodata Group with a focus on providing ICT solution to help accelerating digital transformation.