Transform or Die: Beyond Mere Adaptation
Author: Jason King
Blockchain will disrupt industries the world over. It’s time for businesses to transform or die.
What exactly does blockchain mean for enterprises? Which industries will be affected? How can execs respond? And exactly what kind of disruption are we talking about?
These questions are natural. After all, you’ve been warned before by the tech crowd that your life is about to change (see: Y2K, the Newton, GooglePlus). So what’s so different about blockchain?
Let’s take these questions one at a time, starting with the real biggie:
What Is a Blockchain?
To understand blockchain technology, the first thing you need to know is: it isn’t bitcoin. Blockchain enables bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but it is so much more.
Its hallmark is its distributed ledger. Any transaction can be independently verified (making it a “trustless” technology), and is permanently recorded across numerous network “nodes.” As a result, transactions are transparent and indelible, making the technology particularly attractive in its ability to withstand hacking, tampering, and error.
Another huge selling point is its efficiency. By sharing the workload across the network, verification comes in near-real time, especially critical when dealing with large sums of money transacted across borders.
So What?
Increased security coupled with increased efficiency is obviously attractive to financial markets, so it’s no wonder that fintech and financial services industries have been the quickest to pick up on the potential for blockchain to change their ways of operating. Bank of America, TDBank, IBM, and Deloitte are all on record with their belief in the future of blockchain.
But what about the rest of us?
Well, consider this: AirBnB, Overstock, Walmart, and Samsung have all launched sizable blockchain initiatives, as have the State of Delaware, Singapore, and the US Department of Defense.
“In fact, anything that you can make a list of, you can manage with blockchains,” writes Scott Rosenberg for Wired. “Ambitious developers and entrepreneurs are aiming to use them to rework everything from how we track land ownership to how we distribute medicine and how we grant diplomas.”
Hospitality. Agriculture. Retail. Government. Transportation. Healthcare. Information services. Supply chain. Manufacturing. Education.
Did we leave anybody out? If so, just go ahead and add yourself in right now, because blockchain is coming for you.
This Is Getting Real…
And it’s gonna be big.
According to estimates from Gartner, the total business value add-on of blockchain will exceed $3 trillion in the next 15 years. While a big portion of that will be from increases in efficiency on the backend of financial markets, a significant amount will also come from non-financial applications of the technology. And that’s just on the backend.
While the consumer-facing blockchain applications are still largely entertainment-based — a lot of cryptocurrency gambling, for instance — there are some bright spots such as online identity management and peer-to-peer markets.
Beyond the for-profit world, some projects are even more ambitious as visionaries foresee ways to apply blockchain principles to global issues like:
- Environmental/green initiatives
- Human trafficking
- Financial inclusion for the unbanked
- Food safety
- Education
- Anti-corruption in relief aid
- Fighting blood diamonds
- …and more.
More Than Adaptation
If you haven’t clued in yet, your company is going to need to do more than “adapt.” You’re going to have to radically alter the way you’re doing business.
It’s easy to get sidetracked by the rollercoaster ride that is cryptocurrency valuation, but don’t get distracted from what’s really at work here: a complete and utter transformation of the way people interact, share data, exchange goods and services, and store and transmit value.
If you think of blockchain as an efficiency play or a newer, better database, you’re completely missing the point. We’re looking at a complete paradigm shift, one that may very well ask you and your company to redefine not only the way you do business, but what you actually deliver to your clients and customers.
Take traditional banks, for instance. When a trusted independent third party — the bank — is no longer needed to ensure that a transaction is taking place and the parties involved own the assets they’re exchanging, why is a bank even needed? What value does it add to the transaction? What is its role?
Those are questions that smart financial institutions are already asking themselves.
Just as the creation of the microcomputer and, subsequently the internet, launched brand-new categories of businesses, job titles, and industry sectors that didn’t exist before, blockchain is also creating and destroying. What’s left standing after the revolution will depend on your willingness to knock down your own towers before another blockchain-savvy competitor does it for you.
So… What Do You Do?
Noah believed a flood was coming, so he built an ark.
If you are convinced blockchain will remake your industry into something unrecognizable, preparation starts NOW! Here’s what you need to do:
- Educate yourself. There’s a lot of buzz out there, but a lot of it is speculation not grounded in reality. Look for sources who can help you understand what’s different about blockchain, how it’s being implemented, what’s working, what’s not, and how other enterprise-level execs are responding. While you don’t need to know how to build your own blockchain in Solidity using the ERC20 protocol, you do need to know what the business implications are of the various facets of the technology. Find a reputable source for executive-level training on blockchain and its implications for business.
- Seek out conversations. In an emerging field, the landscape changes daily. The way to keep on top of it is to constantly involve yourself in conversations with others who share your interests — other execs, technology experts, and developers. You can find these conversations online and via in-person conferences like the World Blockchain Forum.
It’s also your responsibility to lead these conversations within your own organization. - Burn your own boats. The worst thing you can do is ignore blockchain, in the hopes that it will quietly go the way of Betamax or fax machines. Yes, altering your company’s entire business model does seem overwhelming at first, but it’s better than scrambling to catch up or, worse yet, being left behind. Once you recognize that a change of course is imminent, embrace it. You’re in the advantageous position of choosing to respond rather than react. Act quickly and you can stay ahead of the winds of change.
- Plan ahead. Right now, blockchain is a rumble in the distance, especially for businesses outside of fintech and financial services. By planning ahead and foreseeing where you’ll need to shift, you can start to align the resources needed to make those changes.
Resources in the blockchain industry are scarce, particularly in regards to talented engineers and other personnel (some estimates say there are 14 open positions for every blockchain engineer, a gap that’s expected to widen over the next 7 years). Don’t count on being able to quickly go out and hire the team to implement your blockchain initiatives whenever you want, as you’ll find them to be in high demand.
You can also begin the process of training your existing in-house team in what they’ll need to know as you make the shift towards a blockchain-based future.
Stay ahead of the adoption curve. The sooner you start moving, the more choice you’ll have in how you will address your new normal.
***
Jason King is a Humanitarian Hacker, feeding the hungry as the Executive Director of Unsung.org. Known for running across the country to raise bitcoin for the homeless in 2014, King is a long-standing member of the crypto community and continues to solve to the sector’s most pressing problems as Co-Founder of Kingsland University — School of Blockchain, the world’s first university-accredited blockchain training program. Find out more about Kingsland’s leading-edge education at KingslandUniversity.com
