Major global IT vendors -- including leading hardware, systems software, eCommerce, big data, cloud, network, telco and systems integrator companies -- have little wisdom, advice or vision to offer their customers and prospects when it comes to blockchain technology.
This is the result of a survey entitled Searching in Vain for The Block Chain, conducted by enterprise IT specialist consulting firm Lighthouse Partners. It is also the main reason this company decided to start offering consulting services on the topic.
The company’s principal Peter Harris surveyed 100 "major global IT vendors", searching each company’s website for the term "block chain". According to Harris, 77 percent had no mention of the technology, a figure that rose to 85 percent when management consultancies and IT analysts were removed from the results.
The interest in this technology is growing, Lighthouse says, mostly because it promises to simplify the technology infrastructure needed to run financial services, healthcare, legal services and government.
"Around 100 start-ups are developing block chain-based applications and nearly $1 billion of venture capital has been invested to date (a figure similar to investment in the internet in its early years)", the company said in a press release.
"Despite all that it has going for it, blockchain technology won’t hit mainstream acceptance without the participation of major global IT vendors", said Harris. "History shows that enterprise users partner with major global IT vendors to craft their emerging technology strategies. That has been the case with innovations including big data, cloud computing, mobile commerce and open source, and it’s what block chain needs in order to succeed. For their part, the major global IT vendors need to work with the start-ups innovating in this space to create their own product and service offerings".
In order to address the lack of understanding and initiatives relating to block chain by the major IT global vendors, Lighthouse Partners has begun to offer its expertise to them in order to accelerate their endeavors.
The company also announced The Block Chain Conference, set to take place in San Francisco on February 10, 2016. A major goal of the conference is to encourage the necessary dialog and engagement the enterprise IT ecosystem -- both vendors and users -- and the start-ups innovating in the blockchain space.
The complete survey can be found on this link.
Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: PathDoc/Shutterstock