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The Edge, Singapore: Cognizant’s Global Head of Delivery for Banking and Financial Services Outlines the Building Blocks of Successful Blockchain Adoption

“The Monetary Authorities of Singapore and Hong Kong recently announced that by 2019, a cross-border platform will be set up to boost trade finance using distributed ledger, or blockchain technology,” writes Nachiket Deshpande. “The key benefit of this development is that it will make trade finance more efficient and minimize various fraud-related risks. In the business world, the value is similar — blockchain technology can dramatically boost efficiency and reduce costs in many areas.” Excerpts:

“A key piece of advice for firms that wish to get ahead in blockchain is to strive for clarity, but accept uncertainty. Since blockchain is still in the early stages of development, innovation will continue throughout the entire ecosystem, and infrastructure will evolve.

Learning will also be iterative, and costs and benefits may only become more clearly defined as projects progress. Many other reasons to move forward with blockchain adoption could be strategic and cannot be quantified at the outset.

Key business stakeholders need to be involved right from the get-go to define the business opportunities that blockchain can enable and set clear objectives for blockchain projects.

The risk of doing nothing is much greater than the risk of doing the wrong thing, so businesses should get a head-start on blockchain adoption as soon as they can and proceed with caution.

Firms should first identify what it is that they are trying to achieve. This is critical to having a clear idea of the expected outcome. If it is a process that merits improvement, they should check if blockchain can do so in the most effective manner.

Choosing the right platform will also be critical in making or marring your business’ blockchain success. The decision should consider both technical and business aspects, since the best platform is one that is tailored to your organization’s needs, including security, privacy and smart contract capabilities, as well as whether the network appears to have the potential to survive over the long term.

The final block to blockchain success is a culture of collaboration. Forward-looking organizations should start gaining critical experience in working with industry partners — including, among others, banks, fintech start-ups, IT advisors, and in some cases, even regulatory authorities — on blockchain projects and assess both internal and external obstacles to broader collaboration.

Blockchain’s potential is enormous, but so is the hype. Although only time will tell who will ultimately win the race for blockchain success, those that get a head-start now are better positioned to gain a significant edge against the competition.”

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