Blockchain concept solutions are moving quickly. David Treat, Global Head, Accenture, Blockchain

Great guest post by Fiona Reilly Finance & Accounting Professional promoting independent research and analysis on Fin and Tech. Interview with David Treat Global Head of Accenture’s Blockchain practice.

Give us some background to Accenture’s involvement in Hyperledger and in this Hackathon

Accenture brings innovation to its clients and help redesign their business models for the future, we see Hyperledger as a key innovator in the blockchain space.  We have been a long supporter of the Hyperledger project being one of the founding members.  The Hackathon format provides the environment to encourage creative thinking and the development of concepts, it is also a great opportunity to network and share ideas.  This is the first Hyperledger Hackathon which focuses on social and humanitarian ‘blockchain for good’ projects. The subject matter of the event will explore challenges in sustainable supply chain and identity and will derive solutions which can establish provenance and trackability we expect to see very inventive proposals. Accenture are also happy to announce that this is just the first of what will become an annual Hackathon event.

Outside of Financial Services, what other industry sectors are developing use cases in blockchain

Blockchain concept solutions are moving very quickly, we see a lot of work in Supply Chain Management, for example shipping and we are working closely with clients such as major ports. There is some very interesting work coming through on Content Management which used blockchain to create auditability and transparency. We expect to see real full-scale industry use projects coming on stream over a 2-3 year timeframe.

What is the potential for blockchain application in relation to identity

There is massive potential for blockchain Identity solutions which can more definitively associate the person with the identity. Blockchain provides a consistent understanding across multi use cases with built in security provided through privacy control. Currently Identification proofing is transactional, however blockchain has the potential to provide a longitudinal chain on information verification putting the identity data in context which then gives associated confidence in the verification of the identity. The next steps will examine how blockchain could be linked to a biometrics platform, providing the link associating the human to the identification.

What will Blockchain look like 1 year from now

Blockchain has the potential to drive profound, positive change. Fast forwarding 1 year from now, I see massive development of more complex solutions, early stage production implementations, further innovation on interoperability and increased focus on the integration of blockchain into combination technology solutions.

David Treat is a Managing Director in Accenture’s Financial Services practice serving as a Client Account Lead and Global Head of Accenture’s Financial Services DLT / Blockchain practice. David has over 19 years of experience in financial services with expertise in strategy, innovation, strategic cost management, large-scale restructuring, customer relationship management, M&A, and process excellence. Currently focused on innovation in Financial Services specializing in Distributed Ledger / Blockchain, Robotic Process Automation, and Cognitive Computing.

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