Gartner: Blockchain Will Transform Most Industries in 10 Years

Information technology service management giant Gartner foresees blockchain becoming transformative for most industries within 10 years.

Gartner made its remarks in the press release accompanying its 2019 Hype Cycle for Blockchain research, published on Sept. 12.

“Some level” of blockchain adoption in the next 3 years: CIOs

The Hype Cycle report tries to provide “an overview of how blockchain capabilities are evolving from a business perspective and maturity across different industries.” 

Research vice-president at Gartner David Furlonger said:

“Even though they are still uncertain of the impact blockchain will have on their businesses, 60% of CIOs in the Gartner 2019 CIO Agenda Survey said that they expected some level of adoption of blockchain technologies in the next three years. However, the existing digital infrastructure of organizations and the lack of clear blockchain governance are limiting CIOs from getting full value with blockchain.”

This data shows how the market changed when compared with the results of the survey that Gartner published in May last year when only 66% of chief information officers (CIOs) knew about blockchain but only 22% planned on using it.

Blockchain adoption in multiple industries

Per the release, nearly 18% of banking and investment services CIOs say that they have adopted or plan to employ some form of blockchain technology within the next 12 months. Another 15% plans to do so in the next two years. 

Furlonger commented:

“We see blockchain in several key areas in banking and investment services, primarily focused on permissioned ledgers. [...] We also expect continued developments in the creation and acceptance of digital tokens. However considerable work needs to be completed in nontechnology-related fields.”

Gartner also notes that the blockchain industry is seeing the deployment of solutions allowing “users to create their own tokens to support the design of competition as well as to enable trading of virtual goods.” 

Another Gartner research executive Christophe Uzureau noted:

“High user volumes and rapid innovation make the gaming sector a testing ground for innovative application of blockchain. It is the perfect place to monitor how users push the adaptability of the most critical components of blockchain: decentralization and tokenization.”

Lastly, Gartner reports that blockchain is being used in retail for tracking and tracing services, counterfeit protection, inventory management and auditing. Still, the report notes that the full potential will be only reached once blockchain will be combined with artificial intelligence and the internet of things.

Tokenization and decentralization are key

Lastly, the report notes that blockchain can transform business models across all industries, but only if businesses adopt complete blockchain ecosystems. The author concludes:

“Without tokenization and decentralization, most industries will not see real business value.”

As Cointelegraph recently reported, according to recent research the blockchain devices market is expected to grow by 42.5% at a compound annual growth rate by 2024.