White Paper Building Value With Blockchain Technology: How To Evaluate .

From use-case to business caseSo, your team has a use-case or two you are excited about. If you are still making this decision, the World EconomicForum’s Decision Tree may help to determine the feasibility of blockchain for your idea.6 The next step is assessing thevalue of your blockchain use-case. This can effectively be done using the Blockchain Value Framework and the four-stepprocess detailed below.This prerequisite step is critical. It is important to carefully consider whether blockchain is the best solution, relative to othertechnologies or other digitization strategies. As noted in “Blockchain Beyond the Hype”, blockchain may not be a viablesolution or it may not be the correct time to pursue this avenue.The Blockchain Value FrameworkThis value driver framework aims to help organizationsidentify the value of blockchain technology in their use-casesand build a corresponding business case. As stated earlier,it is based on a global survey of 550 individuals across 13industries, dozens of interviews with public-sector leadersand private-sector chief executive officers, and an analysis of79 blockchain projects. The projects were evaluated acrossthree main value dimensions: 1) improving productivity andquality; 2) increasing transparency among parties; and 3)reinventing products and processes.differ for each use-case – some will be realized in traditionalmetrics such as operating costs, number of employeesor increased revenue; in other cases, opportunities will bemeasured in lives saved or privacy rights enabled. It is nearlyimpossible to accurately state the general impact of a usecase broadly, but given this framework, organizations canidentify potential expected areas of value on which to focuswithin their personalized business cases.It is important to note that some of these value drivers may beachieved through digitization that does not involve blockchain.So the evaluation should take into account blockchain’s costsrelative to other solutions.BLOCKCHAINVALUE FRAMEWORKWhen building business cases to evaluate the blockchainopportunity, the value drivers can become the prime benefitsor opportunities that organizations need to assess. These willWhenbuildingbusiness casesto evaluatethe blockchainopportunity, the value drivers can become the key benefits or opportunities forFigure3: BlockchainValueFrameworkCheat Sheetthe organization to assess and will differ for each use case – some will be realized in traditional metrics such as operating costs, numberof employees, or increase revenue; in other cases, opportunities will be measured in lives saved or privacy rights enabled. By using thisframework, organizations can identify potential areas of value within their personalized business cases.Blockchain Value FrameworkKEY DIMENSIONSCAPABILITIESVALUE DRIVERS8Increasing transparencyamong partiesImproving profitability and qualityReinventing productsand processesAutomationSelf-validating network smart contractsenable auto execution of business rules.ControlControl at the individual data elementlevel, maximum flexibility over what datais shared and how.DistributedNo single-entity data ownership,consensus applied to transactions andshared access with no central point offailure.DAx (Decentralized Autonomous x)Transparent, predefined rules meannew ventures may be created, providingautonomous products/services throughdecentralized model.Full traceabilityProvenance and complete history of allnew data added is known.SecurityData can be encrypted and segregatedat the data element level, while alsoenhancing overall data security.Holistic viewSingle source of truth - all stakeholderssee the same information to which theyhave access.Enhanced identityA combination of capabilities withadvancements in digital identity (e.g.biometrics) increase confidence in,and improvement of, security andmanagement of customer and personalidentity data.Speed efficiencyCan enable faster data transfer,streamline tasks to optimize processefficiency, particularly whereintermediaries have been removed.Evidence tamperingUnderlying mathematics and cryptographyallow users with appropriate access toverify data has not been altered.AuditabilityComplianceData managementData securityData wnershipPaymentsProcess cecreationNew enhancedproductsand servicesStandardizationTrack and traceBuilding Value with Blockchain TechnologyTokenization and digital assetsPhysical objects with verified uniquedigital representation enable digitalownership, management and transfer.New expandedpartnerships

The blockchain value framework in action1. Understand the impact of the idea to the business.Each use-case should initially be assessed for the painpoints it addresses and/or the opportunities it creates.Next, those pain points and opportunities are prioritized.This assessment of the current state captures an honestpicture of the present situation, and what matters most– without thinking about how to solve issues, or whichtechnology to use. This process reemphasizes theimportance of the projects being managed and owned bythe profit and loss (P&L) groups.Key questions: What are your pain points and areasfor opportunity? What matters most to your organization?2. Think through blockchain’s role. Blockchain use-caseshave the potential to transform the business across threemain dimensions: 1) improving productivity and quality; 2)increasing transparency among parties; and 3) reinventingproducts and processes. Bucketing the pain points andopportunities into these three groups simplifies the nextsteps.Key questions: Are there characteristics of blockchainthat can help with the identified pain points/areas ofopportunity? How so, specifically? Are there othertechnologies that can solve the same pain points/areas ofopportunity more effectively or efficiently? Consider cost,risk and speed of implementation.3. Use the Blockchain Value Framework Cheat Sheetto assist in moving from current-state assessment tofuture-state blockchain opportunity. Each dimensionincludes the blockchain-enabling capabilities that – attimes singlehandedly, but often in conjunction with others– provide a solution to the pain point or present areas ofopportunity. Consider this as the validation that blockchainis the correct technology to solve the current-state priorityand a first step for future development to focus on.Key questions: How do those characteristics mapto the enabling capabilities? Check in again – are thesepriority areas for your organization, and are these enablingcapabilities specific to blockchain when consideredholistically?4. Identify where the value will be created. The value driversare where you’ll find your cost savings, your increasedrevenue and your improved customer experience. Eachdriver touches on important components of the businessthat are driven by technology – and when the time comes,these value drivers become the basis for any business case.Key questions: What are the value drivers that mapto this pain point/area of opportunity? How can we thinkabout measuring or capturing this type of impact? Have wemade a strong case – both at the organization level and theecosystem level?Consider the real-world example below.Freight bill audit and payBillions of dollars a year are invoiced to organizations for freight moves by truck, train, aircraft and ship. The freight bill auditand pay (FBA&P) process involves matching invoices against the services rendered prior to payment remittance. The shippingprocess starts with negotiating shipping rates, completing the purchase order, tracking the shipment, calculating and auditing theinvoice, and finally paying the carrier. Along this process, there are numerous pain points and potential areas for discrepancies,each of which increases the risk of mismanaging or incorrectly paying an invoice. Blockchain offers an opportunity to solve ormitigate these issues. Consider the below example, which begins with the value chain, identifies the opportunity for blockchaintechnology and its enabling capability, and then pinpoints the value driver. This is a real-world example of a blockchain solution foran oil-and-gas company. Upon completing this analysis, the team was able to build a business case to quantify the value of eachdriver, calculating an expected reduced freight spend of 5% (up to 100 million).Figure 4: How blockchain can help solve FBA&P issuesPain points/areas of opportunityBlockchain solutionEnablingcapabilityValue driverDifficulty in managing missing and changing rates,which leads to downstream invoicing problemsHaving a single shared source of previously agreed-uponinformation can ensure everyone is aligned on the rates andcorresponding terms and conditionsHolistic viewTransparencyLack of visibility in goods movementand shipment locationBeing able to track the shipment in real time provides all parties withincreased confidence in their goods and the ability to quickly react toany unexpected disruptionsFull traceabilityTrack andtraceInaccurate rates or calculations being used for theinvoice, often caused by lack of visibility or confusionon metrics such as number of miles travelled, time tocomplete the trip etc.Primary organization would no longer need to trust the accuracyof the shippers’ data or calculations, such as the number ofmiles travelled or time to complete the trip, as this data can beautomatically gathered and shared with all parties on the blockchainHolistic viewData sharingUse of third-party auditors that are costly andlengthen the processUsing smart contracts and blockchain technology, the level ofeffort to audit invoices is greatly reduced. Many activities, suchas reconciliation, are eliminated through having a single shareddocument, while others are automated through smart contractscalculating invoices based on agreed-upon rates and tracking dataAutomationAuditabilityBuilding Value with Blockchain Technology9

Key Dimension 1: Improving productivity and qualityAuditabilityGiven blockchain’s ability to provide a shared ledger oftransactions to all parties, with full traceability of any assetsand associated activity, organizations can not only cut theirauditing costs but raise levels of confidence in the data theyare producing without having to manually validate the data.Example metric: mistakes eliminatedComplianceCompliance brings with it a great deal of risk and damage ifmismanaged. Knowing that blockchain can’t be tamperedwith can provide increased confidence in the data, whilestreamlining administrative processes and reducing costs.Processes involving manual checks for compliance thatcurrently take weeks can be accelerated through a distributedledger of all relevant information. Tying blockchain technologyto emerging technologies such as AI and the IoT can enablereal-time data gathering and processing to improve overallcompliance.Example metric: risk mitigatedData managementBlockchain can improve the management of data in threemain areas: 1) data provenance and accuracy throughknowing more about digital assets and accompanying data;2) data integrity through access/authentication to the networkand easy identification of manipulation or tampering; and 3)data aggregation and organization, as blockchain enables theseamless sharing of real-time data from a single data source.Example metric: improved product forecastingData securityAccording to new Accenture research, poor data securitycould cost companies 5.2 trillion over the next five years– yet only 30% of organizations are confident in their datasecurity.7 Blockchain technology makes use of military-levelcryptography that creates a more secure environment forsharing and storing data, reducing the risk of a data breachand limiting the damage should it occur.Example metric: data breaches preventedOwnershipBlockchain technology can enable true digital ownership ofboth real-world goods and digital assets by creating improvedintellectual property and personalized data profiles, without theneed to check the history or current state of the item.Example metric: improved customer experiencePaymentsBlockchain technology can draw on the single shared datasource to ensure payments are accurate and remove theneed to manually audit and track down payments. With smartcontracts, these payments can be automated, streamliningthe entire process – potentially removing unnecessaryprocessing costs.Example metric: eliminated overpaying of invoices10Building Value with Blockchain TechnologyCryptocurrency and payment systemsBlockchain technology is perhaps most widely discussedin the context of decentralized “cryptocurrencies” andpayment systems. While the core motivations for the use ofblockchain are similar – increased time and cost efficiency,and increased transparency – the singular nature of theuse-case means that value may be evaluated outside of theoutlined value framework. Specifically, blockchain enablespeer-to-peer payments without banking intermediaries andreduces the settlement times and costs associated withthese payments. An organization may evaluate whether itwants to take advantage of these properties for any numberof business reasons. If it proves valuable, the organizationcan create a new system or make use of existing systems.Process automationBlockchain enables business processes to be executedautomatically via rules-based algorithms. Organizations canuse blockchain to look for improvements in efficiency, costsavings and increased worker productivity and retention byshifting the focus of the workforce to one of jobs with higherengagement and satisfaction.Example metric: resources reallocatedReconciliationInaccurate or missing information or fragmentedcommunication between multiple parties are often magnifiedyear after year as unreconciled items get pushed forward.Additional complexities arise due to duplicate entries, postevent changes from cancellations or returns, or conversionfrom analogue to digital inputs. Blockchain technology cansignificantly cut down the overall costs in solving reconciliationwhile reducing errors and the accumulation of unreconcileditems.Example metric: eliminated duplicate paymentsStandardizationFor multiple organizations to work together in a blockchainsystem, they must agree on common terms, business logicand business flow as they share access to the same data andapply the same smart contract-enabled business logic. Allparticipants must agree to the set of rules by which they willwork together. This task is often daunting for many industriesthat have minimal experience of driving this level of agreement.Example metric: improved speed to marketTrack and traceThe management and tracking of supply chains8 as it standstoday is cumbersome, costly and susceptible to humanerror and vulnerable to criminal activities. Distributed ledgertechnology allows trading organizations to view each step ofthe supply-chain process. Each party can verify the currentstate and trail of the products without depending upon directcommunication with others in the network.Example metric: resource time saved

Key Dimension 2: Increasing transparency among partiesData sharingWhen retained in isolated systems – often fragmented andrarely shared between organizations – data starts to loseits value and verifiability. Without blockchain technology,a receiving organization must trust the validity of any datait receives before being able to capture its value. Withblockchain, however, trading partners can share real-time data,but also the history of that data and any modifications to it.Example metric: enhanced value from data modelsResiliencyOrganizations that manage and maintain on-site andcentral data systems are at risk of malicious or incompetentemployees, natural disasters or other events that canirreparably destroy data. Existing in a distributed form,blockchain creates a highly resilient network with multipleshared copies of the data, which mitigates the risk of anisolated attack or incident.Example metric: decreased downtimeTransparencyBlockchain technologies’ distributed ledger allows alldesignated parties to view the data in real time. Withunlimited transparency, organizations can identifyopportunities, improve decision-making and track and tracethe outcome of those decisions.Example metric: improved incident response rateTrustTrust is being challenged in the digital world, withorganizations unable to verify basic essentials. Blockchainhelps enable and even automate trust throughcryptographically securing information and providingtransparency to the state and trail of data.Example metric: mitigated business riskKey Dimension 3: Reinventing products and processesAuthenticationA core function of blockchain technology is its public andprivate key cryptography, which can serve as a basisfor authenticating one user across multiple networks,resulting in increased confidence in the overall network andparticipants.Example metric: prevention of attacks by bad actorsIdentity managementWith more and more business transactions being conductedonline, it no longer makes sense to rely upon physicaldocuments as the only means of establishing the identity ofa user or object. Blockchain technology enables enhancedcharacteristics in how digital identity is both managed andused, while moving beyond the limitations of being operatedby one institution.Example metric: improved retention rateNew and enhanced products and servicesThe technology’s unique capabilities are creating thefoundations to enhance existing products and services andcreate new ones. New digital assets can exist beyond theumbrella of one organization, company or government.How organizations offer and manage those products andservices is evolving, giving power back to the creatorsand consumers. Early examples include digital rightsmanagement and improved land titling.Example metric: new product revenueNew and expanded partnershipsWith the increased confidence in data afforded byblockchain, new partnerships can be formed moreeasily. Many of these partnerships can have automatedcomponents as well, through exploiting digital assets andsmart contracts.Example metric: new distribution channelsMarketplace creationBlockchain technology improves confidence in productsand services in the marketplace, while also using a sharedledger, smart contracts and digital assets to facilitate realtime peer-to-peer transactions.Example metric: new markets createdBuilding Value with Blockchain Technology11

Obstacles and challengesBeware of the hypeThe technology is commonly seen a

Pre-production Proofs of concept/value R&D Version 1s Version 2s Version 3s Figure 1: Path to blockchain adoption. Building Value with Blockchain Technology 7 . technologies or other digitization strategies. As noted in "Blockchain Beyond the Hype", blockchain may not be a viable