Blockchain

In my job, I have engaged many clients who are attempting to implement a blockchain solution and I would consider myself very well versed in this technology so I will discuss my experiences. I'm focused on Financial Services clients – banks, insurance companies, fin-tech companies, and capital market customers are all exploring blockchain as a type of solution within their portfolio.

Problems with Blockchain Solutions

1. Organizations have trouble with the public aspect of blockchain – they do not want parties outside a select group of members to have access to the ledger. This group is considered to be a blockchain consortium. Therefore, companies must create a governance process that manages the group, and this is where a lot of companies find difficulty. The governance policies must dictate voting rights, access abilities, member rules, and more.

2. It is difficult to create an entire blockchain solution due to the speed of which services are expanding AND the level of the effort required from many parts of the business to put it together (Blockchain in financial services, 2019). Small start-ups can create a blockchain solution much faster than a large organization because of a few concentrated developers can create these services – however, they won’t be robust enough for enterprise-grade, private consortiums.

Use Case Examples

1. In insurance, the underwriting process is quite complicated with many steps, signoffs, and checks. A blockchain solution can create a ledger system that allows transparency and immutable transactions with timestamps and accurate signatures. One entire loan can have every transaction trackable internally and externally to clients.

2. In fin-tech, companies are selling complicated technologies and tracking all aspects of this business is quite complex. A fin-tech, its developers, vendors, clients, and investors can gain access to one trusted source and track the entire process against this source.

Resource:

Blockchain in financial services. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/financial-services/research-institute/top-issues/blockchain.html.