Building Value with Blockchain Technology: How to Evaluate Blockchain’s Benefits

Published on the 16th July 2019

In 2018, the World Economic Forum released “Blockchain Beyond the Hype”, a practical framework that aimed to help decision-makers distinguish between hype and viable use-cases. Once decisionmakers had decided that blockchain may add value, they asked another question: How can this value be articulated?

Continuing this series, we are providing businesses, governments and other organizations with a blockchain value framework to help them build out a business case for blockchain investment. This paper builds upon the idea that blockchain deployment is not an end goal. When done right, blockchain is all about rethinking business models, rethinking relationships between companies and between companies and customers, and is, at its heart, a strategic change effort. Therefore, this toolkit helps decision-makers see how blockchain value drivers may map to organizational objectives.

Through this alignment, organizations can understand whether blockchain is worth the investment for their specific circumstances and make strategic decisions on whether they should or should not invest in the technology – keeping in mind that blockchain is just one option for organizations looking to digitize.

Created in collaboration with Accenture Research, this framework was based on a global survey of 550 individuals across 13 industries, dozens of interviews with public-sector leaders and privatesector chief executive officers, and an analysis of 79 blockchain projects. A draft of the framework was further validated at a multilateral session of global leaders at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2019 in Davos-Klosters. Succinctly, this framework helps organizational leaders to confidently evaluate the relevant opportunities of blockchain technology

Authors

World Economic Forum Sheila Warren and Sumedha Deshmukh

Accenture Blockchain Simon Whitehouse, David Treat, and Alissa Worley

Accenture Research Justin Herzig, Piotr Pietruszynski, Brandon Starr, Mike McCoy, Christine Yiannakis, and Geoffrey Nolting