BCT adoption Advisory Tool
The TRUSTyFOOD project has designed a simple graphical tool to answer a common question: can I leverage Blockchain technology to improve / expand my business, staying clear of misconceptions and pitfalls?
By following the flowchart provided here, you should be able to find out the right answer by yourself.
Who should use the Advisory Tool
If you have the responsibility, within your organization, of choosing or advising the best IT technologies that would solve specific business problems, this tool is for you. You may be the CTO or a Technical Manager, but any role will do, provided you are familiar with the basics of IT and have a thorough understanding of your business case.
Who should not use the Advisory Tool
If your job is to design, develop and/or integrate generic solutions, this tool may not be much useful.
How to use the Advisory Tool at its best
This flowchart must be followed in the context of your specific business case. However, business cases are sometimes complex enough to suggest the use of multiple IT strategies, each targeting a different process or group of processes. In practice: if for any of the questions below your answer can be “yes AND no”, do not hesitate to split your problem in two branches and then follow the workflow top-down for each of them. For example, you may find out that Blockchain technology is ok for managing data that you want to be public (e.g., for the purpose of supply chain transparency), but that you will still need a conventional system for processing confidential data within your business ecosystem.
Glossary of terms
BCT – Blockchain technology
Blockchain ledger – The distributed, tamper-proof data storage of Blockchain-based applications.
Off-chain – The use of a non-Blockchain storage facility in parallel with the Blockchain ledger.
End user – Any individual or organization having access to the application.
Active participant – End user that is enabled by the application to contribute data and/or influence the business process.
External entity – End user who is not authorized to contribute data or to influence the business process but is enabled by the application to read process data.
Digital awareness – The ability of a person to understand and use digital tools and environments.
Personally identifiable information (PII) – Any data that can be used to identify a specific individual, either directly or indirectly. PII can also include non-obvious data points like IP addresses and device identifiers when they can be linked back to a person.
Public Blockchain – A public digital ledger that anyone can access without being authorized or even identified. Typically, storing data on the ledger requires that a payment is made using a cryptocurrency. Examples of Public Blockchains include Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Permissioned Blockchain – A digital ledger where access and participation are restricted to authorized users who have been granted permission by the governing authority.