Q&
EDITOR’S
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Servi
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lockchain technology will enable
financial transactions to take place
quicker and provide an undisputed
version of the truth for all parties to
a transaction. This has fundamental
consequences for the way the financial
services industry operates. However, much
like the Internet in its early days, the true
value of Blockchain – and its potential uses –
remains largely undiscovered.
Blockchain will improve trust and
provide transparency to business processes
running across multiple participants. All
relevant information will be available to
50
DARREL ORSMOND,
FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY
HEAD AT SAP AFRICA
However, for the
technology to be
adopted in the
mainstream, all players
. . . need to agree on
certain standards.
the parties involved in the transaction,
securely and reliably. This has applications
beyond financial transactions: for example,
in proving property ownership in rural
areas where other official forms of proof-of-
ownership may be absent.
Blockchain is a distributed digital ledger
that uses specialised algorithms to ensure
that transactions are valid and authentic. It
is based on a decentralised architecture and
protected by powerful digital encryption.
As such, Blockchain can supplement trusted
third parties, like banks, in guaranteeing
transactions and coordinating agreement
among parties. However, for the technology
to be adopted in the mainstream, all
players – financial services companies,
regulators, governments – need to agree on
certain standards.
SAP continues to further develop
specialised software for customers
across the banking, agriculture, energy,
healthcare and media industries to enable
them to connect Blockchains to its HANA
Cloud Platform. In one case, SAP is using
Blockchain software to let patients share
electronic medical records with doctors
or drug makers for a specific time-period,
during medical care or a study.
Another project managed to transfer
funds between a Canadian and German bank
using Blockchain, reducing the transfer time
from a few days to only 20 seconds.
This technology has such potentially
far-reaching implications that it may still
take some time before the right kind of
unifying innovation emerges. The immediate
opportunity lies in the ‘white spaces’,
aspects of business or transactions that are
not encumbered by onerous regulations
and standardised processes. For example,
by using geolocation and validating the
information through public records, an
individual could create a record of their
ownership of a piece of land even in rural
areas, where other forms of proof-of-
ownership are scarce or non-existent.
Technology companies and innovators
will have to accelerate the adoption of
Blockchain by creating useful and accessible
applications thereof, much in the same
way as companies like Google, Amazon and
Facebook accelerated the adoption of the
Internet by creating new ways of delivering
value to businesses and people. It will be
necessary for common standards to be
adopted to make this possible.