Blockchain isn’t just a business buzzword, it’s a better business platform.

Many people hear the word ‘blockchain’ and think it’s just some buzzword, or just a fad connected with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Well, it’s not just a buzzword and it’s not a fad. There are REAL business use cases for blockchain in the enterprise space and the deployment of your enterprise blockchain can be quite simple.

I’ve seen almost every one of the blockchain solutions, as the author of Wiley’s Digital Sense and as host of one of the top-rated blockchain and cryptocurrency podcasts, The Bad Crypto Podcast. My co-host, Joel Comm, and I have literally interviewed over 200 leaders of various blockchain projects and, as a result, no technology excites me more than blockchain; not AI; not machine learning; not augmented reality or virtual reality; not 5G.

Blockchain is technology of trust. And in today’s age, we can all use a bit more trust.

There are many different industries that are using blockchain to transform their business. On Bad Crypto, we’ve rarely spoken to two companies in the same industry building similar solutions. From supply chain, ecommerce, governance, political campaign finance, law enforcement, insurance industry, healthcare, stock trading, prescription drugs, finance and mobile payments, charities and many more industries. (see below image from one of my presentations).

Thousands of business are already discovering new value, taking their industry’s rule and re-writing them to change the way the world works.

And in 2017, the development of blockchain tech, strategies and specific use cases not only helped to deliver value around the world but made it a landmark year for the platform. It’s even being used to solve the world’s largest natural disaster challenges, in the Call for Code initiative.

The thing about blockchain is that it not only has the potential to change the way we communicate, but almost everything. And that may sound like an enterprising statement, yet it really could; whether that be for business, transactions, the social ecosystem or right down to the individual.

“What the internet did for communications, blockchain will do for trusted transactions.” Ginni Rometty.

It’s not often we get to witness the birth of such innovative technology. And, largely, that’s why we’re still assembling our understanding around this ‘platform of the future’. But one day we’re all going to wonder how we lived without it.

It may be perceived as in the developing phase, but it’s very much established and waiting for the business world to tap into it, weaving it into the fabric of everyday life.

But enough of the bold statements.

It’s time to start thinking about how we could all use a piece of blockchain. After all, if you do think it’s just a fad, but it takes off, then you might be left wondering why you didn’t weigh up the potential earlier. And we don’t want that. Let’s begin.

Could your business use a blockchain?

How do you know?

As we make our way into the digital era at breakneck speeds, everything around what we do has become more complex. As a result, we’re having to deal with new challenges, including diverse and contrasting ledger systems that are vulnerable to errors, misinterpretation and even fraud.

With that in mind, considering blockchain for your business largely comes down to the following questions:

• Do you have a lot of data that you need to share across many parties?
• Do you want to ensure that you have ONE record of truth?
• Do you want this data to be immutable or unchangeable?

If any of those apply to you right now, then stay with me because this is why blockchain is GREAT. This is why it exists.

Blockchain’s ability to help organizations exploit the immutability and provenance of data that’s shared, enable transactions in a broad scale while retaining both privacy and security for that data, is what it’s all about.

Enterprise blockchain business needs

Your enterprise blockchain needs permissions for reading, writing and accessing certain files to certain people or parties in the organization. You also need privacy, so that you only share the data that you wish to share.

Next you need performance, as enterprise organizations may need to transact hundreds of thousands of transactions per second, and thus, you need to be able to scale effectively. And you need finality with the settlement of the transactions.

There’s a lot of stuff that blockchains can do

As with almost anything, it may seem overwhelming when you first start. But once the foundation is built, you can then build applications into your blockchain, tools for permissions for credentials, wallets and key management. You’ll have integration libraries for deployment and client interfaces with inter-chain capabilities. You can level up your privacy and scaling. And you can still access off-chain data, bring it on-chain to access and even store some data in a side-chain. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Whew. That sounds difficult, huh? Now you just need to hire a team of blockchain developers for over $100k each and get started, right?

Wrong.

Simplify your blockchain deployment with IBM Blockchain

Enter IBM Blockchain. It’s an enterprise-ready blockchain platform designed to accelerate the development, governance and operation of your business.

Companies large and small can use the IBM Blockchain Platform to simplify the developmental, governmental and operational aspects of creating a blockchain solution. IBM Blockchain enables you to easily migrate from POC to pilot, all the way through to production on a secure, high performance, and fully scalable production network that you can't outgrow.

The IBM Blockchain Platform gives you everything you need to create, test, govern and manage a working blockchain network, so you can accelerate creation of blockchain applications in a variety of cloud environments.

The platform is part of an overall IBM Cloud account, which provides immediate access to all services and APIs in the IBM Cloud platform, including Watson AI, Security, Cloud Object Storage, Kubernetes Service, Core Compute services and dozens of others (via subscription or pay as you go models).

By integrating your solutions with leading-edge IBM Cloud technologies, you can help businesses realize more innovation and value. And with up to $12,000 of free IBM Cloud credits spread over 12 months at $1,000 per month for those new to IBM Cloud, you can access more than 130 unparalleled services, including not only Blockchain but:

• IBM Watson – the deep learning AI for business, of which you can use any of the services
• IBM Analytics – helps you make your data simple and accessible
• IBM Security – helps you assess and eliminate threats

So, regardless of which technology you're interested in, you can use your IBM Cloud credits to get started for free.

>> Start building with your $12K free IBM Cloud credits.

Travis Wright is a top marketing technologist, author, keynote speaker, blockchain advisor, tech journalist, and growth hacker. He is the former global digital and social strategist at Symantec for the Norton brand. Wright is the cofounder & CMO of CCP.Digital, a Kansas City & SF-based digital ad & content agency.

Wright is the author of Wiley & Sons, "Digital Sense, The Common Sense Approach to Social Business Strategy, Marketing Technologies, Customer Experience and Emerging Technologies", which published in January 2017.

Wright also cohosts one of the top ranked blockchain podcasts, The Bad Crypto Podcast, with Joel Comm.  Wright has started working with IBM Blockchain as an influencer to help spread the gospel of enterprise blockchain.