Blockchain: Why boring can be sexy

While there is a tremendous amount of noise around blockchain, it appears to be contained in a bubble. If you live in a technology hub like San Francisco, it seems that’s all everyone is focusing on (B/C for autonomous vehicles? Cryptocurrency? Cool!). Once you get outside this bubble (and the technology domain) the conversation shifts very abruptly.

I’ve been speaking with IT leads in a range of businesses in the Midwest, and when I bring up blockchain I consistently get a blank look. And these are IT people, never mind the business level people. The other interesting data point is that most of the entities I’ve spoken to haven’t even made the transition to cloud-based services. The rate of cloud adoption is guesswork at best, the adoption numbers range from a low of 8% to as high as 20%. 20% adoption means 80% non-adoption, and that’s the best-case scenario for a technology that’s been around for quite a while.

The real challenge with blockchain is messaging. Does it make sense to discuss distributed ledger architecture with someone who has yet to move any app or process to the cloud? One of the consistent themes we keep hearing about blockchain is that everyone is excited about it, but no one is quite sure what to do with it.

Ultimately adoption of any technology is driven by the business end of the company; enable employees to be more productive, increase CSat, improve margins, etc. Blockchain at the moment feels like technology for the sake of it, and if you’re surrounded by technologists, it’s easy to get caught in the hype and lose track of the real objective – the business (non-technical) user.

Given the relatively dismal rate of cloud penetration, maybe using blockchain as an enabler to breath new life into migration to the cloud would be more effective; focus on e.g. improved security and transparency aspects to begin. Business users will get that right away; if technologists focus on the end result, rather than the execution path, it ties the technology to how the business makes money, which is always where IT needs to be.

The other issue is what could drive the decision towards cloud/blockchain. The private sector generally has a greater sense of urgency compared to say, local government. There are a few cities who are making a genuine effort to drive change, but vast numbers are content with paper-based manual processes that take far longer than they should. This is the boring part, all the routine transactional grind that we as citizens deal with every day. This space is ripe for a cloud-based, mobile-accessed, streamlined experience. The fact that it could run on a distributed ledger/smart contracts based system has huge implications, but not to the end user. They will simply have a better, more intuitive, and secure experience. The IT people who deliver on this will have better governance control and transparency, and because its cloud-based, all the benefits of cloud (automatic upgrades, no CapEx, far tighter security, etc.) make their lives smoother. This is a rising tide scenario where everyone comes out ahead, assuming we, as technologists, know how to lead the conversation.