We have all heard of the term blockchain. It’s one of those hype terms which, for some reason, is associated with greatness, ‘the next big thing’ and all the best in general. In my opinion, it’s currently somewhere at the same level as AI – a great idea but companies don’t know how to utilize it yet.

So a company approaches you. They want a blockchain. They heard about it at the lunch table, it sounds great, and it probably solves all of their current business problems. Right?

Unfortunately, 99% of IT people (not even mentioning common people) don’t really know what blockchain is, what it can (and should) be used for and how it works. Our job, as consultants are to tell the client whether he really needs a blockchain solution. In order to be able to tell a client that they (most likely) don’t need a blockchain, you have to know enough about what it can be used for – and what it shouldn’t be used for. To get you started, I collected a few useful links at the bottom.

At some point in the future, some companies will have an actual need for a blockchain. As we are an Azure company, we should look into what Azure provides:

Turns out Azure already provides quite many things out-of-the-box related to blockchain. It has options for running different blockchain nodes, some workbench-type solutions and other tools to get you started with blockchain. This is a great starting point for offering a blockchain solution for a company.

But before you do offer a blockchain for a company: remember to find out if the company really needs it.

FOR FURTHER READING:

What is blockchain
Blockchain vs traditional database
Do I really need a blockchain