The Doppler Quarterly Winter 2019 | Page 56

In short, blockchain is a secure, efficient transactional medium that cuts out middle men. And if such a transac- tional medium can be built, why is not everyone building it? There are entrepreneurs who would like to. But, like cloud in its early days, the technology is disruptive, it is hard to get everybody on the same page, and there are many other obstacles in blockchain’s path. Start with the disruptive aspect. People resisted cloud at first because it fundamentally changes the way they work – the way they build, deploy, manage and use applications. Managers worried about the security of putting information into the cloud. Central IT had to get comfortable with giving up control over the resources workers were using. Blockchain is getting the same kind of cultural pushback. Buying into a distributed system changes the way compa- nies have been running their IT for decades. There is no central authority – no so-called “gold copy” of information. There is no individually identifiable master; the system is the master. This is hard for people to get their heads around, much less accept. Establishing a System of Trust Blockchain also requires participation from multiple stake- holders willing to agree on a “system of trust.” In a supply chain, this would require agreement from vendors, buyers, transport companies, government agencies and countless other entities. Different entities have different priorities. Getting everybody to agree on a complex new system of record keeping would be harder than herding a pack of squirrels on an open field. There is another challenge: talent. Blockchain is a new tech- nology with new rules and new issues, so the talent pool of people with skills in this area is shallow. This was the case with cloud early on. Today, cloud skills are abundant, though demand for sharp, cloud-focused professionals keeps grow- ing, so companies find themselves paying a premium for talent. That will be the case for a while with blockchain. For it to grow into a functioning ecosystem, companies will need to hire developers who not only know how to code but also 54 | THE DOPPLER | WINTER 2019 understand how blockchain works. Companies will also need legal people who understand software and block- chain. And they will need versatile administrators and tech- nical workers who can adjust to a new mode of operation. What has to happen to nudge blockchain into the main- stream? At the moment, the technology faces a chicken- and-egg problem involving payment situations. Until we can get the masses to participate on a broad scale, there will not be much change in value. And until there is activity on the value front, we will not be able to get the masses to participate. So, there needs to be a successful blockchain implementa- tion that shows real value to make the general public take it seriously. Right now, there are companies doing proofs of concept and scoping out pilot projects. But there are no large projects generating real results. The only tested, vali- dated use is bitcoin. Bitcoin has generated plenty of news, but it has been so volatile the general public still classifies the whole movement as hype. Prospects for Success There are, however, a few use cases being worked on that might light a spark. One is a project Walmart and IBM have been working on for a year to digitize the food supply chain process, based on blockchain technology. The fact that a couple of heavyweights are involved gives this undertaking a better than average chance of succeeding. IBM has earned its spurs in the development of forward-thinking enterprise applications such as Watson. Walmart has the size to strong-arm third parties into joining a new network based on a whole new technology and a new way of conducting business. A second blockchain project is in development in the recorded music business. If there were ever an industry that could benefit from an efficient, transparent mode of pay- ment, it is music. Artists, composers and publishers are pushing for a new model that pays them equitably for their work, and blockchain offers a potential solution. Music dis- tributors, not surprisingly, are pushing back, because the move would disrupt a system that made them rich.