Nearly six in 10 (57%) large corporations globally are either actively considering, or are in the process of deploying blockchain technology.
This is according to a Juniper Research study, titled: Which Industries are the Best Fit for Blockchain?. The research provides a guide to the key characteristics that determine whether companies should consider blockchain development, and highlights rapid progress in enterprise rollouts of blockchain technology.
Almost 400 company founders, IT executives and managers responded to the survey.
"Two-thirds (66%) of organisations expected blockchain to be integrated into their systems by the end of 2018," reveals the report.
"Settlement, land registry and digital fiat currency were identified as 'best fit' opportunities for blockchain deployment, but for each of these opportunities the scale and variety of barriers were significant.
"While awareness of blockchain and its benefits had increased dramatically in the past 12-18 months, there was the danger that companies might seek to deploy blockchain without having first considered alternative options."
Research author Dr Windsor Holden explains: "In many cases, systemic change, rather than technological, might be a better and cheaper solution than blockchain, which could potentially cause significant internal and external disruption."
The research further found companies may have underestimated the scale of the blockchain challenge. For issues such as interoperability, the proportion of survey respondents expressed concerns progressively increased as companies proceed towards full deployment, while concerns also rose sharply regarding client refusal to embrace blockchain.
The PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Global FinTech Report 2017 reveals 77% of 1 300 interviewed global organisations said they expect to adopt blockchain as part of an in-production system or process by 2020.
"Banks, institutions and even governments are looking at blockchain technology as a secure storage and distribution solution. There is growing demand across the globe to understand the implications of blockchain and how to respond to it," notes PwC.
In May, IBM introduced the IBM Blockchain Founder Accelerator to help organisations and enterprise developers address key challenges in adopting blockchain technology.
With the right network of participants collaborating on the blockchain, the benefits can be exponential," says Marie Wieck, GM of blockchain technology at IBM. "IBM is proactively building solutions and entire blockchain ecosystems across a broad range of industries and we are sharing our expertise and resources to help more organisations quickly set up their networks."
Jan van Rooyen, strategic solutions lead at supply chain IT company Resolve, says: "One challenge faced by organisations in blockchain deployment is access to the digital world. Access is driven by availability and cost. Availability of industrial-scale, very fast access to the Internet by everyone at all corners of the country, at a fraction of the cost of current services. The uptake of blockchain for non-financial use cases has been slower in SA, but that is changing as its potential impact in environments, such as the supply chain, is better understood."
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