“The value of an idea lies in the using of it.” –Thomas Edison

This is Part 2 of a 10-part series on Enterprise Ethereum. Part 1, “11 Ways Ethereum Can Benefit Enterprise,” discusses the specific capabilities of the Ethereum blockchain and outlines the future of the enterprise Ethereum ecosystem.

Blockchain technology has unleashed the wave of “what ifs” for both local communities and global enterprises. What if businesses could increase the speed and resiliency of payment systems while reducing the overall cost of those systems? What if governments could deliver high-quality services to their citizens without a single piece of paper? What if manufacturers knew exactly where their precious minerals and metals were sourced? The task now is getting from what-if to how, from concept to solution.

A blockchain — as both a data structure and alignment protocol — is a powerful idea, but all too often fodder for popcorn presentations and public relations. This article is about actual enterprise solutions that are deployed on Ethereum.

If your organization is not considering a blockchain solution, understand why not. For some IT environments, a blockchain is an overkill and a distributed database will suffice. But for large organizations that participate in networks and manage sensitive transactions between multiple parties, the right blockchain implementation could mean not just security and scalability, but survival.

Continue reading about blockchain use cases on consensys.net