Blockchain Survey: Momentum Shifts Toward Actionable Exploration

A new survey shows how companies in all sectors look poised to make some major moves over the next year.

“Blockchain is at an inflection point, with momentum shifting from ‘blockchain tourism’ and exploration to the building of practical business applications,” states Deloitte in its 2018 global blockchain survey. “This is particularly true among ‘digital enterprise’ organizations [see enterprise vs. “emerging disruptors”], rather than in more traditional enterprises that are still working on how to incorporate digital into their existing operations and protocols.”

Deloitte’s survey shows that, while these ‘enterprise digital’ organizations may be lagging their fully digital brethren in this endeavor, the fact is, traditional enterprises are putting more resources behind blockchain than they had been in an effort to achieve greater efficiency and to develop new business models and revenue sources.

The survey, co-authored by Deloitte’s Linda Pawczuk, Principal and Americas Blockchain Leader for Consulting, Rob Massey, Partner and Global Blockchain Leader for Tax, and David Schatsky, Managing Director for Consulting, polled a sample of 1,053 senior executives in seven countries — Canada, China, France, Germany, Mexico, United Kingdom, and the United States — at companies with $500 million or more in annual revenue.

“While blockchain is not quite ready for primetime, it is getting closer to its breakout moment every day,” the survey authors write. “The academic hypotheses of five years ago are steadily becoming a reality. Momentum is shifting from a focus on learning and exploring the potential of the technology to identifying and building practical business applications. The executives we surveyed hold pragmatic views and look poised to make some major moves over the next year.”

Like the development of the Internet before it, blockchain is still, in many ways, looking for solid footing outside of early adopters.

“In the mid-1990s, the Internet was still very much a curiosity, hampered by slow connection speeds and disparate protocols that often made browsing the Web more frustrating than beneficial for anyone but the most dedicated users,” the survey finds.

Blockchain is a priority investment for many companies and 39% of respondents reported that their organization will invest $5 million or more in blockchain technology in the coming year:

• 16% of the respondent plan to invest $10 million or more;
• 23% from $5 million to less than $10 million;
• 26% from $1 million to less than $5 million;
• 20% from $500,000 to less than $1 million;
• 10% less than $500,000;
• 5% said no investment is planned.

Overall, respondents are extremely bullish on blockchain’s potential:

• 84% of them believes that it is broadly scalable and will eventually achieve mainstream adoption
• 59% agrees that blockchain technology will disrupt their industry, particularly in the automotive (73%), oil and gas (72%), life sciences (72%), and financial industries (64%);
• 39% of respondents thinks that blockchain technology is overhyped, suggesting that even blockchain believers think some of the rhetoric on the technology’s potential is overly optimistic.

The survey also shows how companies face a wide variety of barriers to further investment in blockchain, with the most common being:

• regulatory barriers (39% of the respondents);
• replacing or integrating with legacy systems (37%);
• potential security threats (35%);
• and uncertain return on investment (33%).

As for the blockchain models companies are focusing on:

• 52% of the respondents are focusing on permissioned blockchain;
• 44% on private blockchain (internal to the company);
• 44% on public blockchain like Bitcoin or ethereum.