A new Forrester report, ‘COVID-19 Is Accelerating Critical Enterprise Blockchain Initiatives’, shows how Blockchain remains a nascent technology. And in times of crisis and financial constraint, spending on emerging technologies tends to be cut or even eliminated. But COVID-19 isn’t all bad news for DLT.
COVID-19 stopped the clock on enterprise blockchain projects, but not for long. What COVID-19 means for a company and its technology spending priorities differs by industry sector and relative competitive position and relates to a firm’s degree of digital maturity.
Some key takeaways of the report:
- The onset of the pandemic and its ensuing economic consequences led many firms to reduce their revenue projections and focus on cost containment; in an April to May 2020 Forrester Analytics survey, 43% of global purchase influencers said their technology spending would decrease in the next fiscal quarter — that’s compared with just 8% of respondents who, before the outbreak of the pandemic, expected a decrease.
- Initially, only “in production” networks kept going while everything else stopped. When the pandemic first hit and companies had to focus on the necessities of survival, only enterprise blockchain networks processing transactions as part of day-to-day business processes continued running. Practically all other DLT-related project activity ceased.
- Companies must be able to answer the “money question. For most, this isn’t about generating additional revenue but about saving money or avoiding fines for regulatory noncompliance. Some of the benefits are more easily calculated than others. By enabling companies to automate processes around shared, trusted data, DLT helps reduce cost and increase supply chain efficiency as well as resilience. But it can only do so as part of a comprehensive digital strategy.
If you want to discuss further details of the report with the head author, VP & Principal Analyst Martha Bennett, please visit press@forrester.com.
Source: Forrester Press Release
