Knowledge unchained
Blockchain’s advantages
Let’s take this a step further. There are hundreds of copies of documents involved in shipping a container of goods from one country to another because every party involved—from customs to third-party warehouses and shippers—all want and need a copy. A lot of documentation in the legal, healthcare, governmental, finance, and supply chain sectors exists to support the validity of other pieces of documentation. Blockchain eliminates the need to have many copies of the same documentation by keeping a decentralized and immutable version that all parties can access. It becomes evident that the potential of having a distributed, single version of the truth—one that does not rely on human trust by default—can result in a massive reduction in the volume of paperwork involved in a transaction. In theory, it can also dramatically reduce the number of disputes and the time and effort to resolve them.
It’s a good and correct concept that will radically change how we manage information assets. It’s also true that changing the documentation process associated with a global supply chain will take many years, if not decades. But even so, it is already starting to happen, be that in the form of IBM Food Trust, Oracle Intelligent Track and Trace, or heavily backed startups active in the space. As analysts, we have looked at many of these systems and have been involved directly in several projects and initiatives. Scratch beneath the surface of the technology vendor marketing, and you find that the critical focus is the reduction of paperwork and a shared version of the truth. The challenges in deploying blockchains in the real world are not technical; they are cultural. Blockchain’s association with cryptocurrency makes some wary. Also, more often than not, various parties in a transaction benefit from and are dependent on inefficiencies and duplications.
Profound questions
Similar to ethics and AI, blockchain takes us into some head-scratching territory. What is trust? What is the truth? What is a truthless system? Yet, seemingly simple but ultimately profound questions are timeless, and it is when we tackle them head-on that change comes, innovation appears, and we all make a collective move forward. Information and knowledge management technologies and practices look much the same as they always have. Today, they may be faster and more complex, but ultimately they rely on the same concepts and building blocks. Blockchain invites us to rethink, reimagine, and reinvent our world.