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Blockchain technology and SAP Blockchain strategy

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Blockchain is an architectural concept that offers an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way.

 

Blockchain provides the foundation for applications such as Bitcoin, which is the most successful Blockchain application to date.

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Some quick facts :

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  • 60% of polled participants say Blockchain is the biggest tech development since the Internet.

  • 45% say it is the end of traditional Banking as we know it.

  • 83% of life and science leaders believe Blockchain will be adopted within 5 years.

  • >50% of companies in consumer products, life science, healthcare, tech and media already deploy Blockchain solutions.

  • >$1.4 Billion invested in Blockchain projects between 2014 and 2017.

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Blockchain is a combination of existing technology :

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  • Peer-to-peer networks

  • Cryptography and hashing algorithms

  • Consensus algorithms

  • Databases

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Value drivers for Blockchain adoption in Enterprise

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Blockchain is not a technology to be used in any business case. Below are value drivers that can help you decide if Blockchain is suitable for your particular Business scenario :

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  • Multi-Party Collaboration : The need for multi-parties to collaborate (more than 2 parties) ?

  • Process optimization : The need for improving existing business processes ?

  • Enhancing the security : Enhancing security for existing transactions ?

  • Transparency and auditability : The need to provide transaction transparency to all parties ?

  • Information imbalance : Removing the possibility of information imbalance between all parties ?

  • Immutable digital assets : The need for an immutable ledger removing the ability to change the data by any of the parties involved ?

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If you can answer these questions positively for your use case , then that's when you should really start to consider using Blockchain technology.

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Enterprise use cases

 

  • Healthcare :

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SAP proof of concept for the healthcare industry addresses the following challenges :

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- Counterfeit drugs entering the supply chain and the risk this provokes to global health

- The complexity of the industry and the high regulation

- The inefficient sellable returns verification process

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Solution

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- Authorized parties write hashes of products onto Blockchain

- Units can then be scanned for authenticity

- Scalable to customers

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  • Communication :

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SAP proof of concept for global IMEI storage and services addresses the following challenges :

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- 1 in 10 smart phones stolen in the U.S alone

- All units are supplied with an IMEI code (International Mobile Equipment Identity)

- Localized blacklists and processes

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Solution :

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- "Wireless Device Security" Network

- Units can be blacklisted and whitelisted by authorized parties

- Can be rolled out to other IoT-enabled devices

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  • Public Services :

 

SAP proof of concept for autonomous province of South Tyrol addresses the following challenges :

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- High level of repetitive, manual documentation

- 1000 existing systems or processes

- 21 distributed offices

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Solution :

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- Mobile application

- Single source of truth

- Cost and time savings

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SAP's Blockchain Strategy

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SAP's vision :

 

Blockchain is the foundation for building transactional applications that establish trust and transparency while streamlining business processes across company boundaries.

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SAP doesn't believe Blockchain is relevant for all projects use cases or even an adequate replacement for every business process.

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SAP started with 2 technologies as part of SAP Leonardo on the SAP Cloud platform :

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  • Hyperledger Fabric

  • Multichain

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For more information on this, go to : www.sap.com/blockchain

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For the full videos of this Introduction to Blockchain, please visit open.sap.com.

 

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