University of the Cumberlands Blockchain in Health Industry Research Paper Industry experts believe blockchain is a technology that has the potential to af

University of the Cumberlands Blockchain in Health Industry Research Paper Industry experts believe blockchain is a technology that has the potential to affect the business of most IT professionals in the next five years. Pick an industry you feel will be most affected by blockchain and how blockchain may be used in that industry. As an IT manager, how would you embrace blockchain? For instance, how would training occur for your team, what strategies might you use, what security methods may you recommend be used?Your paper should meet the following requirements: Be approximately 2-3 pages in length, not including the required cover page and reference page. Follow APA6 guidelines. Your paper should include an introduction, a body with fully developed content, and a conclusion. Support your answers with the readings from the course and at least two scholarly journal articles to support your positions, claims, and observations, in addition to your textbook. The UC Library is a great place to find resources. Be clearly and well-written, concise, and logical, using excellent grammar and style techniques. You are being graded in part on the quality of your writing. BUYER’S GUIDE TO BLOCKCHAIN | PART 2 OF 3
Inside blockchain and its
various applications
Bob Tarzey explores the technology around
blockchain shaping how businesses use data
W
hen people interact with each other, for example
via financial transactions, sharing legal documents or trading through supply chains, they
need a high level of confidence that the data
recording their interaction is accurate and true.
A distributed ledger makes it possible to build applications
where multiple parties can execute transactions online without
the need to trust a central authority or indeed each other.
Over the past few years, the number of use cases for distributed
ledgers, and their more specialised form, blockchains, has been
increasing, as has the technology to support the underlying infrastructure and build applications on top of it.
With a distributed ledger, every user has their own full, or in some
cases partial, copy of the database, referred to as a node, which
can be a physical device, a virtual machine or a software container.
Each node runs the relevant software to provide the infrastructure management and the relevant application, including the
ability to complete “smart contracts” that negotiate the direct
exchange of assets between participating nodes.
GOLDEN SIKORKA/ADOBE
Consensus
For a transaction to proceed, all nodes must verify a transaction
and agree its order on the ledger.
Doing so is termed “consensus”, which is necessary, for example, to avoid double counting or overspending when it comes to
financial assets.
Consensus involves four steps, from the transaction being
initiated to it being committed on all nodes with a timestamp
HOME
computerweekly.com
17-23 September 2019 16
BUYER’S GUIDE
Home
News
How IT departments
can find different
ways to upskill in
the new economy
Travel company Clarity
bakes ThoughtSpot
search and AI functions
into analytics tool
Digital factory
approach signals a new
departure for Network
Rail’s IT strategy
Editor’s comment
Buyer’s guide
to blockchain
Delivering cloud in the
financial services sector
How 5G will transform
your business
Downtime
providing a unique cryptographic signature. These steps can be
completed in seconds or minutes, depending on the technology.
Blockchains are distinguished from other distributed ledgers in
being updated by adding blocks of new transactions to create an
immutable tamper-proof log of sensitive activity.
The right to write blocks may require proof-of-work – which
can be time and resource intensive – the aim being to prevent, for
example, mass updates by bots.
Nomenclature has become confusing as the two terms, distributed ledger and blockchain, have been used interchangeably,
with the latter prevailing, being punchier and, perhaps, sounding
more contemporary.
it consumes in a process called mining, the form of proof-of-work,
rewarded with bitcoins, used to add new blocks of transactions to
the bitcoin blockchain.
As the use of blockchains has extended to other use cases, the
aim has been to overcome these deficiencies.
Different approaches are enabled through frameworks which
provide the basic architecture, protocol and network support.
Frameworks simplify the development, deployment and support of applications that access a given blockchain. There are
several blockchain frameworks which compete and/or address
different requirements.
Public or private
The most widely used is Ethereum, an open source public blockchain framework. The first implementations were in 2015, but it is
already thought to account for 80% of blockchain-based projects.
Ethereum suits highly distributed requirements where the
transparency of data to all users is important – for example, a
customer loyalty network where retailers need to independently
verify a user’s activity to provide benefits.
Ethereum was the first platform to enable full-fledged smart
contracts, which, for example, makes it quick and easy to launch
ICOs. Ethereum is also the name of a cryptocurrency based on
the platform.
The Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger Fabric is an open source
enterprise private blockchain framework suited to applications
that require privacy and permission controls with a known set
of members – for example, a financial application where certain
Blockchains can either be public or private and require permission to update or not. Use cases range from international money
transfers, managing shareholder records and legal contracts to
recording the provenance of gemstones and the condition of
goods in transport.
To date, the most high-profile use of blockchain has been to operate cryptocurrencies, a way of exchanging and storing value online
independent of central banks. From this has involved initial coin
offerings (ICO), a way of using cryptocurrencies as an alternative
to initial public offerings (IPO) for companies to raise capital.
With the oldest and highest profile blockchain application,
bitcoin, it can take many minutes for consensus to be reached,
which is why the cryptocurrency has a reputation for poor performance and scalability. It is also criticised for the datacentre power
Frameworks
computerweekly.com
17-23 September 2019 17
BUYER’S GUIDE
Home
News
How IT departments
can find different
ways to upskill in
the new economy
Travel company Clarity
bakes ThoughtSpot
search and AI functions
into analytics tool
Digital factory
approach signals a new
departure for Network
Rail’s IT strategy
trade-related data is only shared with select banks. In effect, it is
a hub for the open development of blockchains for solving corporate tasks.
The project started in 2015 and has more than 100 participating
companies which pay a membership fee, starting at $50,000 per
annum, enabling them to contribute software code to the project.
Waves is an open source blockchain platform created by a
Russian company specifically for launching ICOs; a distant second to Ethereum for doing this. It includes a decentralised trading
exchange. Ripple is an open source platform used as an international
currency exchange for both cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies. It
is designed to allow fast and cheap international transactions.
The NEM Foundation’s platform claims the scalability and performance to suit a range of use cases, including financial payments, cryptocurrencies, equity markets and escrow services,
using a consensus algorithm called proof-of-importance that
provides privileges to participants with the best reputations.
Smart contract platform
EOS is a smart contract platform and decentralised operating
system intended for the deployment of industrial-scale applications. It aims to eliminate transaction fees and be highly
scalable. R3’s Corda operates smart contracts, within the Java
Virtual Machine, and is aimed at financial institutions. Iota is
Editor’s comment
Buyer’s guide
to blockchain
Delivering cloud in the
financial services sector
How 5G will transform
your business
ALEX/ADOBE
Downtime
computerweekly.com
17-23 September 2019 18
BUYER’S GUIDE
Home
News
How IT departments
can find different
ways to upskill in
the new economy
Travel company Clarity
bakes ThoughtSpot
search and AI functions
into analytics tool
Digital factory
approach signals a new
departure for Network
Rail’s IT strategy
Editor’s comment
Buyer’s guide
to blockchain
Delivering cloud in the
financial services sector
How 5G will transform
your business
Downtime
an open source distributed ledger, customised to work with
internet of things (IoT) applications providing feeless microtransactions. JP Morgan’s Quorum is Ethereum-based, claiming
enterprise scalability and the ability to limit access to transaction history, while providing maximum transparency.
Blockchain as a service
Quorum has recently been selected by Microsoft as the first
supported framework for its managed Azure Blockchain Service.
The aim of such managed, blockchain-as-a-service offerings is
to avoid self-hosting of blockchain infrastructure, eliminating the
need to provision hardware, configure software and set up networking and security components, as well as ease the development of applications on top of one or more frameworks.
The Microsoft Azure Blockchain Service was launched earlier
in 2019, on top of earlier releases of a blockchain development
kit and workbench. It integrates with Microsoft’s Active Directory
and Visual Studio, as well as a range of open source tools.
The Amazon Managed Blockchain was launched in December
2018 and supports both Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) claims it enables the rapid creation
of new blockchain networks that can span multiple AWS accounts,
that can automatically scale to meet the demands of thousands of
applications. It monitors the network and automatically replaces
poorly performing nodes assigning processing power and memory flexibly, as would be expected on a managed platform.
The launch of the service means AWS now competes with some
of its platform partners, such as ConsenSys’s Kaleido.
The IBM Blockchain Platform, launched in 2017, is based on
Hyper Ledger. It can be run on-premise or as a cloud service on a
customer-chosen platform and includes a set of security services
suited to the requirements of enterprise customers. Oracle also
released a blockchain platform based on Hyperledger Fabric in
February 2019.
Specialist requirements
Alongside some of the IT industry’s biggest names, many
smaller, niche players are coming to market to serve specialist
requirements and applications relating to blockchain.
Gospel Technology is a private permissioned blockchain aimed
at safe data sharing. Use cases include human resources systems
and pharmaceutical testing. To this end, it provides consensus on
reads, as well as writes, ensuring that it is opaque about data, but
open about who has accessed it.
Because Gospel is focusing on content as much as transactions,
the data volumes involved can be high, so network nodes can store
a subset of the data relevant to their needs. This also means it can
make use of Byzantine fault tolerance, meaning it can continue to
operate even if the status of certain nodes is unknown.
Gospel has just launched a version on the Google Cloud
Platform, however, customers can use other platforms such as
AWS or Azure.
Modum is a Switzerland-based company currently operating
mainly in Germany – with global plans. It partners with AWS and
SAP. Its offering aims to automate, integrate and digitise supply
chains, the initial focus market being pharmaceuticals.
computerweekly.com
17-23 September 2019 19
BUYER’S GUIDE
Home
News
How IT departments
can find different
ways to upskill in
the new economy
Travel company Clarity
bakes ThoughtSpot
search and AI functions
into analytics tool
Digital factory
approach signals a new
departure for Network
Rail’s IT strategy
Modum provides an IoT-type device with a data logger to be
included with transported goods to monitor environmental conditions, such as temperature and humidity to prove compliance
with good distribution practices.
The data collected can be immutably secured in a blockchain
and shared with stakeholders to add a layer of trust.
Fraud prevention
Tomia specialises in fraud prevention, traffic optimisation and
roaming insights for mobile carriers. It provides real-time analytics and recently announced a partnership with Microsoft, KPMG
and R3 to provide a blockchain-based system to optimise dispute
management and help resolve billing and settlement disputes.
Quant Network’s Overledger is a blockchain operating system providing the ability for applications to interact with multiple blockchains.
The need for many-to-many relationships between applications
and databases is not new: it was one that had to be addressed in
the 1980s and 1990s with the rising use of relational databases.
Standards were introduced and the market consolidated. This
is what will happen in the world of blockchains. Furthermore,
blockchain is not a panacea: it will never suit many applications
where central control, extremely high speed or the mass storage
of unstructured data are required.
Blockchain merely provides another choice in the range of
database options available. n
Editor’s comment
Buyer’s guide
to blockchain
Delivering cloud in the
financial services sector
How 5G will transform
your business
SASHKIN/ADOBE
Downtime
computerweekly.com
17-23 September 2019 20
Copyright of Computer Weekly is the property of TechTarget, Inc. and its content may not be
copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder’s
express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for
individual use.
UC MegaSearch
Page 1 of 8
Record: 1
Title: Blockchain beyond the hype: What is the strategic business
value?
Authors: Carson, Brant1
Romanelli, Giulio2
Walsh, Patricia3
Zhumaev, Askhat3
Source: McKinsey Quarterly. 2018, Issue 4, p118-127. 10p. 1 Color
Photograph, 1 Diagram.
Document Type: Article
Subject Terms: *BLOCKCHAINS
*DECENTRALIZATION in management
*TRANSPARENCY in organizations
*BUSINESS models
*COST control
*STRATEGIC planning
Abstract: The authors discuss their study on the strategic business
value of blockchain to major industries. They described a
structured approach that companies can follow to examine
blockchain strategies. The core advantages of blockchain are
decentralization, cryptographic security, transparency, and
immutability. It is said that the value of blockchain will shift
from driving cost reduction to enabling entirely new business
models and revenue streams.
Author Affiliations: 1Partner, McKinsey’s Sydney office
2
Associate partner, Melbourne office
3
Consultant, Melbourne office.
Full Text Word Count: 2881
ISSN: 0047-5394
Accession Number: 133693412
Database: Business Source Premier
Blockchain beyond the hype: What is the strategic business value?
Blockchain can generate meaningful value for many companies. The key is figuring out what
strategy makes sense, given your customers’ pain points and your company’s market
position
Blockchain is all the rage. Bitcoin-the first and most infamous application of the technology-has
grabbed headlines for its rocketing price and volatility. Predictions such as the World Economic
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/delivery?sid=8dc22675-4fdf-488e-afce-023afbccdded%40… 10/26/2019
UC MegaSearch
Page 2 of 8
Forum survey suggesting that 10 percent of global GDP will be stored on blockchain by 2027 have
inspired government task forces, breathless press reports, and a multitude of conversations at
Davos and in corporate conference rooms.[ 1]
Tellingly, large investments are being made. Last year, venture capitalists put more than $1 billion
into blockchain start-ups.[ 2] Initial coin offerings (ICOs), the blockchain-backed sale of
cryptocurrency tokens in a new venture, raised $5 billion in 2017. Leading technology players are
putting money and people into blockchain: IBM has invested $200 million and more than 1,000
employees in the blockchain-powered Internet of Things (IoT).[ 3]
Yet the fact remains that blockchain is an immature technology with a nascent market and no clear
recipe for success. No wonder many corporate leaders are asking themselves a lot of questions. Is
blockchain a disruptive threat? Is it a fad? Most importantly, can blockchain have strategic value for
my company?
To help answer these questions, we embarked on an industry-by-industry analysis of existing
blockchain strategies, interviewing a range of experts including the executives overseeing these
efforts at a number of companies. We evaluated the strategic importance of blockchain to major
industries and identified who can capture what type of value through what type of approach. Our
research led us to three key insights on the strategic value of blockchain:
• Blockchain does not have to be a disintermediator to generate value.
• Blockchain’s short-term value will be predominantly in reducing cost.
• Commercially viable blockchain solutions deployed at scale are three to five years away for most
companies.
In this article, we’ll explain how we arrived at these insights and we’ll describe a structured approach
companies can follow to evaluate blockchain strategies. Some organizations may discover ways to
extract value from blockchain in the short term. Dominant companies may discover even more: if
they are willing to invest now to establish their blockchains as market solutions, they can cement
their leadership and forestall the incursion of disruptive digital natives.
WHAT IS BLOCKCHAIN?
Blockchain is not synonymous with Bitcoin, which is just one cryptocurrency application that uses it.
Blockchain is a distributed ledger, or database, shared across a public or private computing network.
Each computer node in the network holds a copy of the ledger, so there is no single point of failure.
Every piece of information is mathematically encrypted and added as a new “block” to the chain of
historical records. Various consensus protocols are used to validate a new block with other
participants before it can be added to the chain. This prevents fraud or double spending without
requiring a central authority. The ledger can also be programmed with “smart contracts,” a set of
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/delivery?sid=8dc22675-4fdf-488e-afce-023afbccdded%40… 10/26/2019
UC MegaSearch
Page 3 of 8
conditions recorded on the blockchain, so that transactions automatically trigger when the conditions
are met. For example, smart contracts could be used to automate insurance-claim payouts.
Blockchain’s core advantages are decentralization, cryptographic security, transparency, and
immutability. It allows information to be verified and value to be exchanged without having to rely on
a third-party authority. Rather than there being a singular form of blockchain, the technology can be
configured in multiple ways to meet the objectives and commercial requirements of a particular use
case. Indeed, our research focused on more than 90 discrete use cases of varying maturity for
blockchain across industries. To clarify this variety of applications, we structured use cases into six
categories across blockchain’s two fundamental functions: record keeping and transacting. Some
industries have applications across multiple categories, while others concentrate on one or two.
Blockchain’s disruptive potential lies partly in its technology, which eliminates the need for an entity
to be in charge of managing, storing, and funding a database. A public blockchain, such as Bitcoin,
has no central authority. This peer-to-peer model can become commercially viable due to
blockchain’s ability to compensate participants’ contributions with “tokens” (application-specific
cryptoassets), as well as with a stake in any future increases in the value. As a result, public
blockchains can foster total disruptive disintermediation. However, as we explain in the following
section, smart incumbent companies willing to engage with blockchain now can use the technology
to prevent disintermediation.
THREE BLOCKCHAIN TRUTHS TO HELP SHAPE YOUR STRATEGY
Incumbents looking to defend against disintermediation-or to go on the offensive themselves-should
start by understanding three key insights.
‘Permissioned’ blockchains generate value and ward off disintermediation
The commercial model that is most likely to succeed in the short term is a different kind of
blockchain, a “permissioned” one, with controlled access and editing rights (exhibit). In this model,
participants can benefit from securely sharing data while automating control of what is shared, with
whom, and when. Equipped with meaningful transparency and fraud controls, these permissioned
blockchains help existing companies reduce the complexity and cost of multiparty transactions. It’s a
way for incumbents to harness blockc…
Purchase answer to see full
attachment