Experts and industry players have said that the adoption of blockchain technology is still in its early stages at the annual meeting of The Wall Street Journal CIO Network, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Feb. 26.
The regular Wall Street Journal CIO Network is a membership exclusively for chief information officers and technology experts from the largest companies around the world. The event gathered a range of experts from startups, large corporations and governments to share their views on the development of enterprise technology.
Although enterprise blockchain technology has found its practical use, its new applications are not large scale, according to Christine Moy, executive director and head of the blockchain center of excellence at JPMorgan Chase. She added however that “these incremental use cases will evolve into something larger.”
Bridget van Kralingen, senior vice president of global industry platforms for IBM’s blockchain division, reportedly suggested that blockchain will eventually have more use cases business, and will specifically streamline document flow and establish authenticity. Van Kralingen reportedly stated:
“I think we see pull but it is very early days.”
Speaking about artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, participants said that the technology could help improve workflow in various industries, from human resources to sales. Stephen Messer, co-founder and vice chairman of Collective[i], reportedly said:
“In sales, AI can help with basic automation and foster better business analysis. The company uses data, artificial intelligence and predictive technologies to help sales professionals assess which potential deals are most likely to close. That insight can help managers decide where to focus team resources.”
Messer also added that it could be challenging to make companies take AI seriously, since they tend to be skeptical of its value and want to see results right away.
Both technologies have been gaining traction in recent times. According to the 2018 United States Emerging Jobs report by LinkedIn released last December, the role of blockchain developer registered an increase of 33 times in the past 12 months prior to December. That year’s top emerging jobs also included AI specialists, wherein “six out of the 15 emerging jobs are related in some way to AI.”
