Gartner: Most current enterprise blockchain implementations to become obsolete by 2021

Research firm Gartner is predicting that 90 percent of current enterprise blockchain platform implementations will need to be replaced by 2021 in order to remain competitive and secure.

“Blockchain platforms are emerging platforms and, at this point, nearly indistinguishable in some cases from core blockchain technology,” said Adrian Lee, senior research director at Gartner. “Many CIOs overestimate the capabilities and short-term benefits of blockchain as a technology to help them achieve their business goals, thus creating unrealistic expectations when assessing offerings from blockchain platform vendors and service providers.”

Gartner says that today’s blockchain market is made up of fragmented offerings that can overlap or be used in a complementary manner, which can make choices difficult for IT decision makers.

Blockchain platform vendors typically use messaging that does not link to a target buyer’s use cases and business benefits. For example, ‘transactions’ was the term mentioned the most in relation to blockchain, followed by ‘secure’ and ‘security.’ While these may be functions of blockchain-enabling technology, buyers are still confused as to how these functions are achieved or what benefits blockchain adds compared to their existing processes,” said Adrien Lee.

Lee added that due to the fact that there is no industry-wide consensus on the core concept and features of a blockchain product and its target market, a single dominant blockchain platform is not expected to emerge within the next five years.

By 2025, Gartner predicts that the business value added by blockchain technology is expected to grow to USD 176 billion, and surge to more than USD 3.1 trillion by 2030.

“Product managers should prepare for rapid evolution, early obsolescence, a shifting competitive landscape, future consolidation of offerings and the potential failure of early stage technologies/functionality in the blockchain platform market,” said Lee.