Blockchain for shared records between organizations that need to trust the data.

A blockchain is a ledger that several organizations keep together, where every change is signed, ordered and visible to everyone allowed to see it. It earns its place when parties who do not fully trust each other need one record. We help you decide whether that is your situation, and build a pilot connected to your existing systems if it is.

Book a strategy call

What we cover

When it fitsThe questions that decide whether you need a blockchain
Use casesWhere shared ledgers are used
PlatformsPermissioned or public, chosen for the job
How we workFrom a fit assessment to a connected pilot

When it fits

The questions that decide whether you need a blockchain

Blockchain adds cost and complexity compared with an ordinary database, so it has to earn its place. It tends to fit when several organizations need to write to the same record, no single one of them is trusted or willing to run it for everyone, and the history of changes must be tamper-evident and auditable.

If one organization can own the data, a well-secured database with an audit log is almost always simpler, faster and cheaper. If the records are confidential to one party, a blockchain adds little. We start every engagement by working through these questions with you, and a 'no' at this stage is a useful result.

What we do

Map who writes the records and who has to trust them
Test whether one party could run a database for everyone
Define what must be provable later, and to whom
Decide which data has to stay off the ledger

Use cases

Where shared ledgers are used

The uses that hold up best involve records that pass between organizations. Supply-chain traceability records where a product or component came from and who handled it along the way. Document and credential verification lets a third party check that a certificate, license or record is genuine without calling the issuer. Shared records between business partners can replace the work of reconciling two sets of books. Payments and settlement between institutions, including across borders, is an active area too, though it is shaped heavily by regulation.

Smart contracts, which are programs stored on the ledger, can automate steps such as releasing a payment when a delivery is confirmed. They need careful design and independent review, because a mistake in a deployed contract can be hard to undo.

What we do

Supply-chain provenance and traceability
Document and credential verification
Shared records and reconciliation between partners
Smart contracts for multi-party workflows

Platforms

Permissioned or public, chosen for the job

Business networks usually choose a permissioned ledger such as Hyperledger Fabric, where only known members can join and data can be shared selectively between them. Public networks such as Ethereum suit cases where anyone should be able to verify a record. Many designs store only a fingerprint, or hash, of each document on the ledger and keep the document itself in ordinary storage, which keeps private data off the chain while still proving the document has not changed. We recommend a platform after the fit questions are answered, not before.

How we work

From a fit assessment to a connected pilot

After the fit assessment, a pilot typically involves two or three participants, one workflow and a small set of real records. The ledger itself is rarely the hard part. The work is in the integration: connecting the ledger to the ERP, CRM or document systems where the records start, managing identities and keys for each participant, and agreeing who runs the network and how members join and leave.

That is the same API and integration work our systems integration team does every day, built with the same retries, error alerts and audit trail, so the pilot behaves like a system you could run rather than a demonstration.

What we do

A fit assessment with a written recommendation
Platform selection and network design
A pilot with real records and participants
Integration with your existing systems through APIs

Questions

Common questions

Do we need cryptocurrency to use blockchain?

No. Permissioned business ledgers such as Hyperledger Fabric work without any cryptocurrency. Public networks charge transaction fees in their own tokens, which is one of the costs we weigh when choosing a platform.

Is a blockchain more secure than a database?

It is tamper-evident, which is different. Each change is linked to the one before it, so altering history is detectable. A blockchain does not protect data from a participant who is allowed to read it, and keys still have to be managed well. For data one organization owns, a secured database with audit logging is usually the better choice.

Can personal data go on a blockchain?

Usually it should not. Ledger entries are hard or impossible to delete, which conflicts with privacy laws that give people the right to have their data erased. The common pattern is to keep personal data off the ledger and record only a hash or a reference on it.

What if the assessment says we do not need a blockchain?

Then you have saved the cost of building one, and we will recommend the simpler design, often a shared database or an API between the parties. Our integration team can build that instead.

Related services