Home
Digital Shifts
Why you should be Building Enterprise Blockchain Solutions with a Purpose

Why you should be Building Enterprise Blockchain Solutions with a Purpose

Fujitsu / November 5, 2021

Digital Shifts Sustainable Manufacturing Data and Security Digital Transformation

Purpose and commitment to responsible business help to build a more sustainable world and having a stable ecosystem has become even more vital.

Enterprise Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology allow that all stakeholders are looking at the same verifiable data, in real-time whilst accelerating the removal of friction and delays in the supply chain. However, this is not just about using technology, but using it to bring security, transparency, traceability and finality to the ecosystem.

We believe that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the fundamental cornerstone to ensure economic and business growth, and our ambition is to make the world more sustainable by working closely with our customers, building trust in society through innovation.

Market and Choices – How do market and economic dynamics affect the way we face the different challenges we are subject to?
The Background – How can we ensure transparency and trust in data even when we are subject to ecosystem volatility, instability and fragility?
The Bigger Picture – How doing things with a purpose has allowed us to build our methodology and approach?

I believe there is no doubt that we can understand the well-known British-American author and inspirational speaker Simon Sinek when he states, "Safe is good for sidewalks and swimming pools, but life requires risk if we are to get anywhere." The problem is that humans think linearly, often play not to lose, and take a defensive stance when it comes to business, technology, and subsequently, purpose.

Market and Choices – How do market and economic dynamics affect the way we face the different challenges we are subject to?

Business and societal transformation require exponential thinking and behaviors, with a measurable level of risk-taking. It is a tough adjustment and a journey. The alternative is worse, becoming irrelevant as a business or as an individual.

Today, markets and economic dynamics are moving faster than a lot of us are adjusting and adapting. I have witnessed and participated in some unique and innovative approaches to adapt to the challenges. What is needed is an approach that is genuinely responsive to innovation and change, adapting skills and roles to the new situations we experience every day.

Remembering a recent conversation with the Sustainability Manager at a large brewery, our Customers are experiencing this too, every single day.

A while ago, I made a conscious choice to combine the best I can be for my company and the business and the injection of true purpose in everything I do. I noticed nothing is wrong with doing good business while also doing more "good" for society. It may sound simple, probably because it is in the end.

One of the technologies that has allowed me to change is Enterprise Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology combined with a dynamic approach to data, insight, and decision modeling.

The Background – How can we ensure transparency and trust in data even when we are subject to ecosystem volatility, instability and fragility?

In the Enterprise context, Distributed Ledger and Blockchain technologies are today often a supplementary platform, not an end-to-end solution in business ecosystems, unless working with a greenfield.

Today, in the face of an unpredictable or, even worse, relatively unstable global economy with volatile and brittle supply chains, for example, having a stable ecosystem has become even more vital. People and businesses need to be able to trust that all parties are looking at the same data. They need to trust the origin, the finality of things, the trueness of a purpose statement, etc.

Maintaining trust is paramount across all parties. Traditionally, one party must accept responsibility, accountability, and risk (and be trusted to do so). However, this is often difficult to achieve in a centralized world.

Generating and maintaining trust in any data collected and the knowledge it creates can often lead to volatility and friction in any ecosystem. That is where this technology can make a real difference.

We aim to make the world more sustainable by working closely with our customers by building trust in society through innovation. What does that mean? It helps steer our conduct towards our customers and our actions relentlessly and consistently. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the fundamental cornerstone to secure future economic and business growth. It is an essential building block for each Customer engagement and interaction.

It allows my Team to support and work on the corporate strategy. It is part of many, if not all, conversations we have internally and externally. The firm belief is that business can be a force for good, and realize that the cost of inaction often exceeds the cost of action is what drives our actions. Moreover, it is good business.

It fits one of the strong believes applied in my Team. "Know and act. You know what you have to do, and you even know how and why you do it." It results in working with customers on transformational growth with a healthy mixture of purpose and relentlessly persistent and nimble execution.

The Bigger Picture – How doing things with a purpose has allowed us to build our methodology and approach?

Looking at that bigger picture, infusing purpose, and believing in why we do things has allowed us to build a pragmatic methodology, increase our credibility, and create a multidisciplinary approach that resonates.

Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology are technologies that allow us to help real customers solve real-world problems. They fuel the convergence of technology we see happening in real-time.

The CEO and Editor in Chief of TIME, Edward Felsenthal, when he says, "every company is a tech company now. The disruption is just beginning". It forces and inspires my Team, and to think and act differently. Ecosystems matter just as doing the right thing in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Whether it is developing a consumer application that allows consumers to track the origin of their beverage while at the same time looking for inefficiencies in the overall supply chain or creating an exchange for commodities allowing more transparency in an otherwise obscured ecosystem, they all seem to converge and give additional purpose to what we do. They provide evidence and insight to stakeholders to make the right decision. I, for one, still believe that most people would rather make the "good" one.

I leave you with this, another of the lesson learned. There is no real value in telling what you will do. The true value sits in explaining what you have already done to make it better.

Frederik De Breuck

Chief Digital Officer / CTO Fujitsu Belgium, Head of the Enterprise Blockchain Solution Center at Fujitsu Global

As CDO and CTO of Fujitsu Belgium, Frederik De Breuck overall responsibility is to drive growth and strategic renewal by transforming traditional businesses into digital ones. Frederik also manages the Enterprise Blockchain and Data Trust Solution Center for Fujitsu Global, focusing on building production-ready Blockchain and Distributed Ledger solutions and creating innovative methodologies to increase enterprise adoption.