We recently took part in the Global CIO Executive Summit held on Tuesday, November 7 at the Ritz-Carlton Boston, shedding light on enterprise blockchain and discussing the potential of this innovative technology with global executives.

Organized by Evanta, a Gartner company, the Boston CIO Executive Summit was an opportunity to gather thoughts and spur debates among successful global business and IT executives. It was also an opportunity to clear any misconceptions and reveal the true potential of blockchain technology in business application.

The executive summit attracted numerous leaders from diverse industries and organizations such as General Electric, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Deloitte, MIT, Harvard, and many more. At the event, our CEO Jaroslav Kacina moderated a boardroom session titled “The Business Possibilities of Blockchain.”Joining him were Paul Brassil, Vice President of Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and Joel Jacobs, Vice President & CIO of The MITRE Corporation. Following are the insights gathered from the boardroom discussion on blockchain.

Due to the rising importance of securing the integrity and transparency of information in business, blockchain technology and its simplicity yet immutability in storing data will decidedly have a significant impact on how companies operate and collaborate, as well as how information is shared across various stakeholders.

As Jaroslav Kacina explains: “Similarly to how Internet revolutionized the way how information is being exchanged towards the end of the last century, blockchain will have a profound impact on business, and the SophiaTX team is already offering services utilizing this technology to improve collaboration across value chains and evolve entire business models, with more blockchain solutions being identified and developed as we speak.”

Additionally, given the disruptive nature of such technology, awareness about blockchain and its potential impact on business should be developed by the IT jointly with business and its functions. A good understanding of blockchain could be acquired by identifying potential use cases and launching a ‘hands-on’ proof of concepts.

“Blockchain technology has found its use in many industries apart from cryptocurrency, and large companies are already investigating how to exploit it. This is why it is crucial for leaders and companies desiring to sustain competitive advantage to explore and adopt new digital strategies, investigate organizational capabilities, and get ready for this next wave of disruption,” Jaroslav Kacina adds.

Finally, the participants deem it important to separate cryptocurrency from blockchain technology which has now evolved and found a myriad of new and profound use cases in providing functionality and allowing changes and evolution of existing business models.