Onboarding blockchain tech? Don’t miss these important facts

Enterprises today build applications that utilize distributed ledger technology to address transactional and record-keeping business challenges. These include payments and settlements, provenance, asset tracking, identity management/KYC, and trade finance. Employing distributed ledger technology in such cases can reduce friction, lower costs, improve cash flow, and enable new business models, making blockchain-based applications a valuable strategic tool for companies worldwide.

As blockchain technology becomes more commonplace, its benefits grow clearer. Remember the early days of the internet? FIrst disrupting and then massively incorporated into our lives. Same goes for blockchain, evolving as a growing technology that is deployed in a growing number of industries such as healthcare, the public sector, energy, manufacturing, financial services, and more.

As recently as 2017, the industry landscape was mostly dominated by experimental use of blockchain technology and proofs-of-concept. However, in just a few short years, we’ve come to see a genuine rise in the use of sustainable blockchain-based business applications across various protocols.

For example: Global spending on blockchain cybersecurity solutions is estimated to reach up to 4.3 billion dollars this year. Despite compromised spending projections due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, that’s still 60 percent greater than 2019. Calculated estimates forecast that enterprise spending on blockchain technology solutions will only grow in the years to come, hitting $14B annually in just a few years from now.

Onboarding blockchain: What you need to know today

Based on our experience, we’ve gathered some important facts that organizations need to bear in mind and carefully consider when onboarding blockchain technology:

#1 Success takes perspective, commitment, and patience

Yes, these are parts of the recipe for any successful project. Onboarding blockchain technology into an enterprise means transforming some of its critical market infrastructure, and that takes time. According to the Second Global Enterprise Blockchain Benchmarking Study, the median enterprise blockchain project takes 25 months from the initial proof-of-concept to deployment in production, with some large-scale networks taking more than four and a half years to reach full launch.

#2  Blockchain is an expertise

Having the right team in place is critical for the success of your blockchain project. Many executives make the mistake of using their existing dev team for onboarding blockchain, and this decision usually comes with a price.

Blockchain technology requires a unique skillset; when undertaking a blockchain development project, it’s important that the team consists of at least one experienced blockchain developer. Though this may cost a little more upfront, in the longer term it will most likely save time and money, and eliminate the risk of potential problems.

#3 Choosing the right dApp protocol for your needs

Selecting the correct blockchain protocol (sometimes referred to as platform) for your enterprise is critical - you want to make sure that it is the one best suited for your needs. Start by determining whether you need a private blockchain protocol or if a public one will suffice. There are numerous protocols to choose from. Top ones include:

Ethereum, quite an established dApp and smart contracts platform. Highlights include:

• Open, for public use
• System is based on proof-of-work
• Utilizes the solidity programming language 

Hyperledger Fabric, a relatively recent platform, boosts blockchain technologies across industries. Highlights include:

• Collaborates with 180+ enterprises
• Comes production-ready for businesses
• Backed by the Hyperledger foundation and IBM

Quorum, an Ethereum-based DLT, is a newly developed platform. Highlights include:

• Consensus mechanisms are voting-based
• Management of permissions via network and peer
• Fortified privacy for transactions and contracts

#4 Organizational buy-in is critical

Blockchain technology can vastly improve business operations and add value to enterprises in numerous ways:

• Boosting revenue by providing new services, via access to new global partners;
• Cutting down costs by streamlining reconciliation processes between ledgers;  
• Establishing unique and new business models, via the new shared network

In fact, according to recent data from the University of Cambridge, the majority of live networks - as many as two-thirds - are purposely designed to cut costs for participants and end-users. Cutting costs is always a good incentive for getting organizational buy-in. 

#5 Don’t take blockchain security or compliance for granted

It’s vital that you properly secure your project. While blockchain technology might seem already secure, this is far from true. 

Decentralized applications that are developed and deployed globally, sharing delicate business data and processes between enterprises, present security and assurance threats that hadn’t existed before. While blockchain technology utilizes sophisticated mathematical rules that make it difficult to hack and manipulate, it is still not bullet-proof, and can still be hacked into. 

One of the major cybersecurity concerns for blockchain technology is data privacy. In the EU, for example, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enforces stringent data protection requirements to protect citizens, aiming to prevent personal data from leaving the EU, and enforcing personal control over data. In such cases, a privacy breach on blockchain technology would be extremely costly.

Even outside the EU, where regulations differ, the personal and organizational consequences can be just as dire. This further underscores the importance of understanding and minimizing cybersecurity risks when onboarding blockchain technology into your enterprise.

A new kind of solution is required if organizations are to fully benefit from blockchain technology. To address this, we at Valid Network have developed a fully automated solution to secure enterprise-grade blockchain business applications throughout their entire lifecycle.

The bottom line

Blockchain technology can add great value to enterprises. Many organizations turn to this technology to save costs, speed transactions, validate and access data, and improve internal record keeping.

Still, it’s highly important to onboard this technology smartly, taking into account different considerations that may make or break how beneficial this technology is to your organization in the long run. 

About Valid Network

Valid Network’s blockchain security platform provides complete life cycle security for enterprise blockchains from initial development to active deployment and management. Based in Be'er Sheva, Israel, the company’s solutions enable enterprises to innovate with blockchain faster, providing complete visibility and control over their distributed applications and smart contract governance, compliance, and security posture through advanced platform capabilities.  

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Secure the block with Valid Network.  

Learn more: https://valid.network  

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