You got the technology strategy right, but what about blockchain strategy?

Technology strategy (information technology strategy or IT strategy) is the overall plan which consists of objectives, principles, and tactics relating to the use of technologies within a particular organization. — Wiki Definition.

Most enterprises create and publish their technology strategy for short term 2 years and long term 5 years. This helps enterprises to stay focused on how they want to transform them-self in the next couple of years.

The challenge comes with blockchain; Blockchain is emerging as a foundational technology, but there is still groundwork to be done on standards development and the governance of change.

Blockchain requires ecosystem collaboration. Without cooperation, technology and its proposed benefits will fail. Blockchain strategy required mind-shift change at the executive level. Enterprise mindset is hard-wired to keep data in secured silos, hence the organization needs to first create a data-sharing strategy, I don’t mean via API or web-services.

We’re talking about breaking some boundaries of the organization and sharing an unprecedented amount of data about the movement of assets on a distributed ledger across global supply chains. For this, enterprises need to define and characterize each data set as transaction critical, metadata, shareable, non-shareable, current business-critical.

Companies are moving on to blockchain solutions without proper business risk analysis. Blockchain strategy needs to define the business risk due to diligence models. The current risk model is not sufficient for blockchain products.

I see a growing trend within companies of moving on to non-audited blockchain products. There is a race to secure the pole position, in most cases, internal IT processes are not equipped to identify blockchain product risks. There is no doubt blockchain is a game-changer, but business needs to validate, if they, will get benefited by the use of technology.

Blockchain could become a force anywhere trading occurs, trust is at a premium, and people need protection from identity theft. It shouldn’t happen that companies fund projects which will move them out of business. The first wave of enterprise blockchain is all about cost reduction but the second wave will be more impactful. Blockchain will disrupt a lot of existing business models, hence business which is firing line(intermediaries ) need to first understand the use case, and then build a strategy to transform their business model.

People who live need coast doesn’t fund ice melting projects, instead, they use the money to move out of the danger zone.

A company’s optimal strategic approach to the blockchain will fundamentally be defined by the following two market factors, which are those they can least affect:

• market dominance — the ability of a player to influence the key parties of a use case
• standardization and regulatory barriers — the requirement for regulatory approvals or coordination on standards

Blockchain’s value comes from its network effects and interoperability, and all parties need to agree on a common standard to realize this value. As technology develops, a market standard will emerge, and investments into the non-dominant standard will be wasted.

In case of any doubt, please feel free to reach out to me. I will be happy to review your use case and associated risks.