Blockchain Fatigue to hit 90% supply chain initiatives by 2023

Ninety per cent of Blockchain-based supply chain initiatives will suffer "Blockchain fatigue" by 2023 due to a lack of strong use cases. Blockchain remains a popular topic, but supply chain leaders are failing to find suitable use cases, a new report by Gartner said on Tuesday. "Supply chain blockchain projects have mostly focused on verifying authenticity, improving traceability and visibility, and improving transactional trust. 

"However, most have remained pilot projects due to a combination of technology immaturity, lack of standards, overly ambitious scope and a misunderstanding of how blockchain could, or should, actually help the supply chain. Inevitably, this is causing the market to experience blockchain fatigue," Alex Pradhan, Senior Principal Research Analyst at Gartner, said in a statement. 

The budding nature of Blockchain makes it almost impossible for organisations to identify and target specific high-value use cases, he said, adding that instead, companies are forced to run multiple development pilots using trial and error to find ones that might provide value. 

The vendor ecosystem has not fully formed and is struggling to establish market dominance. Another challenge is that supply chain organisations cannot buy an off-the-shelf, complete, packaged blockchain solution.

"Without a vibrant market for commercial blockchain applications, the majority of companies do not know how to evaluate, assess and benchmark solutions, especially as the market landscape rapidly evolves," said Pradhan.