Researchers Find ‘Dramatic’ Increase In Corporate Awareness Of Blockchain

Blockchain remains a hot topic among FinTech innovators, and now, more corporates are paying attention.

That’s according to Juniper Research, which recently released the results of a survey polling nearly 400 corporate executives, founders, managers and IT specialists on the topic. In an article for Venture Beat published Monday (Sept. 25), Windsor Holden, head of forecasting and consultancy at Juniper Research, said the survey showed a “dramatic” increase in the awareness of blockchain technology among corporates.

Most companies (56 percent) staffing more than 20,000 employees said they were either considering deploying or were already in the process of deploying blockchain tools. The number dropped to 39 percent when businesses of all sizes were taken into account, however.

Still, more than 80 percent of survey respondents said they had at least “a little” or “good” understanding of blockchain. Holden said this understanding of the tool suggests a major roadblock in the development and implementation of blockchain technology could be on the decline.

Nearly one-third of respondents identified settlements and payments as their top area of focus when it comes to how they might deploy blockchain in the enterprise. Ten percent identified smart contracts, while the same portion pointed to supply chain management and tracking. For the companies in the proof-of-concept stage of their blockchain solutions, two-thirds told Juniper Research they expect to have their tools implemented by the end of next year.

The biggest concerns about deploying blockchain solutions revolve around the interoperability between those tools, researchers found, with 62 percent reporting this concern persists in the proof-of-concept stage and beyond. More than half also cited a reluctance or refusal of clients or partners to also deploy blockchain-based solutions as a key challenge. The survey found 51 percent of respondents actively working on blockchain tools consider the technology to be a “significant” disruptor to partners and customers.

In its survey, Juniper Research identified IBM as the third-party technology provider with which most businesses were looking to work, with nearly 43 percent citing the company. In second place was Microsoft, with 20 percent pointing to this technology firm as their preferred blockchain partner.