New Deloitte survey paints optimistic picture of corporate interest in blockchain

A survey from global auditing giant Deloitte indicates a continued strong investment in blockchain technology from organizations.

The Deloitte Global Blockchain Survey, 2019 was conducted between February 08 and March 04, 2019. It polled a sample of 1,386 senior executives in a dozen countries at companies with $500 million or more in annual revenue for US respondents and $100 million or more in annual revenue for non-US respondents.

Between February 18 and March 08, 2019, the survey was expanded to include executives at a group of 31 blockchain emerging disruptors, which had revenue of less than $50 million.

“Last year’s survey showed blockchain adoption reaching a turning point: Momentum had begun shifting from ‘blockchain tourism’ and exploration towards the building of practical business applications. Financial services and, more specifically, the financial technology sector were leading in blockchain development,” the report reads.

“Today, fintech remains a blockchain leader, but more organizations in more sectors – such as technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and healthcare, and government – are expanding and diversifying their blockchain initiatives.”

According to the report, 53 percent of respondents said that blockchain technology has become a “critical priority” for their organizations in 2019. However, the number of organizations actually undertaking steps to deploy the technology remains low with many still seeing it as “overhyped.”

“Though a majority of respondents call blockchain a top-five priority, only 23 percent have already initiated a blockchain deployment – down from 34 percent. Attitudes about blockchain may be improving, but 43 percent still see blockchain as overhyped, up from 39 percent last year,” the report reads.

The survey results further revealed continued strong investment in the technology. 27 percent of the companies that participated in the surveys are now thinking of investing up to $5 million in blockchain and 40 percent are thinking of spending more than that. Furthermore, 83 percent of respondents see compelling use cases for the technology.

Other key takeaways from the report include:

• 86 percent of respondents believe that blockchain technology is broadly scalable and will eventually achieve mainstream adoption.
• 81 percent said that they are planning to replace current systems of record.
• 77 percent believe that they will lose a competitive edge if they don’t adopt blockchain technology.
• 30 percent of respondents see regulatory issues as a barrier to greater investment in blockchain technology, down from 39 percent last year.

The authors also emphasized on blockchain’s increased maturity as revealed by the other 2019 survey data. They said:

“Respondents saw blockchain providing more diverse advantages than in 2018. Similarly, increasing diversification of potential use cases for blockchain – and the wider array and greater parity of identified barriers to blockchain adoption – suggest further signs of maturity.”