Blockchain helps enterprises’ digital ecosystems in Asia-Pacific

October 18, 2019 TH Author

Blockchain solutions are maturing, yet speculation on their value is rife. Most business and technology decision-makers are still unclear about what actual business value this technology can deliver to their organizations. This is what I have been researching and writing about — to determine how enterprises can take a practical approach to adopting this technology and realizing business value.

Customer-centric enterprises now face two major challenges — rising customer expectations and a slowing economy — and have come to realize that they need to collaborate more with other players in the ecosystem to address this. Blockchain shows promise in helping firms collaborate, connect, and transact with known and unknown parties in a digital ecosystem. But what aspects of digital ecosystems have blockchain actually enabled? My research indicates that it comes down to two dimensions:

Ecosystem augmentation. Blockchain has been used in the Asia Pacific to improve collaboration with ecosystem partners and the operational excellence of those ecosystems. It has been used in areas like supply chain visibility, business process efficiency, and ensuring the authenticity of shared assets throughout the lifecycle.
Ecosystem expansion. Participants in blockchain-based digital ecosystems can transform how they operate and deliver value to customers, helping them establish partner ecosystems with companies in other verticals.

In my latest report, I also took a deep dive into four business cases, detailing how pioneering AP firms work with blockchain technology providers to drive the evolution and adoption of blockchain.

JD Cloud worked with JDD (the subsidiary of the JD Group focusing on digital technology) to transform the lifecycle management of asset-backed securities in China to protect investor benefits; Samsung SDS used blockchain to help digital banking in South Korea with integrated authentication; NTT DATA launched a trade consortium with leading Japanese firms to streamline the operation of international trade platforms, and its trial will go live this month (October 2019); and IBM has also worked with banks in Thailand to digitize letter-of-guarantee processes. All of these endeavors faced multiple challenges before adopting blockchain technology, which has helped address those issues and bring additional benefits.

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This post was written by Charlie Dai, Principal Analyst and originally appeared here.