Barry Devlin takes us on a journey to help us understand how context plays a big role in using data. Known for creating the first data warehouse architecture, he proposed a new standard for data architecture for today’s world in 2013. Devlin puts context-setting information at the heart of all data architectures, and for good reason. In the drive to digitize more business processes, the intricacies of how all stakeholders inter­act with data have been underexposed. Though it is understandable that getting a grip on technology and reorganizing your business is hard enough, it is precisely this interaction that will determine your success. If you turn your perspective around, as he argues, your data architecture will be of more value.

Clearly, blockchain will have an impact on technology and the ways we conduct business and how governments and not-for-profits provide services. But until we alleviate several clear barriers, progress will be slow. We discuss a handful of those barriers in this Advisor, including lack of interoperability, lack of mature toolsets, and lack of qualified personnel.

In this Advisor, we consider the four types of blockchain and explore some financial services where blockchain can be used effectively to enhance customer experience and increase the efficiency of those services.

With Industry 4.0, there is constant change in everything from business models to technology platforms to hype and social trends. Keeping up, let alone getting ahead, requires experimentation and constant reinvention. To support that, organizations need a steady supply of engineers in an ever-growing field of products, protocols, and platforms — and there simply aren’t enough to keep up.

Architecture should play a key role in creating the strategy for a digital business. But strategy alone is not enough, so architecture must go deeper by focusing on three pillars: (1) accelerated change, (2) decentralized decisions, and (3) public self-governance.

According to a recent Cutter Consortium survey, approximately a quarter of organizations are looking into using smartbots and intelligent assistants for their customer experience initiatives. Intelligent agents and smartbots enable customers to conduct common interactions in a conversational manner via speech and natural language speech or text-powered interfaces.

This issue of The Cutter Edge explores how to keep the digital train moving with minimal friction, cost, and effort; the characteristics that encapsulate how successful business architecture practitioners think and act, and more!

Robotics has benefited considerably over the past two years from advances in AI, with the biggest stemming from developments around deep learning neural net architectures and machine vision systems. Consequently, today we are seeing robots employing advanced autonomous navigation and intelligent object recognition capabilities — including image-sensing functions utilizing advanced pattern matching, shape detection, and face-tracking and analysis.

When using Agile methods, the integration and testing effort is performed continuously since capability is built up and delivered in short iterations. In order to implement continuous integration and testing concepts, consider the seven Agile approaches examined in this Advisor.

Working with blockchain over the past few years has made me realize the broad possibilities of distributed networks. Certainly, one could say that blockchain is “just” a distributed database; however, emerging adoption reinforces the potential underneath. There are myriad ways to adopt this technology, including in transferring funds, managing supply chains, handling tax evasion, and performing targeted analyses of data already recorded on the blockchain.

Working with blockchain over the past few years has made me realize the broad possibilities of distributed networks. Certainly, one could say that blockchain is “just” a distributed database; however, emerging adoption reinforces the potential underneath. There are myriad ways to adopt this technology, including in transferring funds, managing supply chains, handling tax evasion, and performing targeted analyses of data already recorded on the blockchain.

A capability architecture defines what we are and do at any given time, whereas process, information, platform, and other architectures describe how we accomplish what we are or perform what we do at any given time. As we improve or mature, what we do and/or how we do it changes over time, meaning that both our capabilities and the enabling architectures evolve.

A capability architecture defines what we are and do at any given time, whereas process, information, platform, and other architectures describe how we accomplish what we are or perform what we do at any given time. As we improve or mature, what we do and/or how we do it changes over time, meaning that both our capabilities and the enabling architectures evolve.

As we explore in this issue of Cutter Business Techology Journal, blockchain is a smart but still small baby only just beginning the process of becoming an adult. The next two to three years will be important in terms of implementing proper regulations and standards to enable wider adoption of blockchain and to establish the technology on a solid legal foundation.

Tim Virtue focuses on the most significant risks of BaaS. He identifies common BaaS risks and proposes mitigation strategies for all of them. Virtue stresses that adoption of innovative business models is essential for new market entrants. In the build-versus-buy debate, he favors buy, although stresses that the BaaS provider should be a trusted partner, not simply a commodity supplier. Despite the significant risks involved in digital trans­formation adoption, doing nothing is the greatest risk of all. 

Tim Virtue focuses on the most significant risks of BaaS. He identifies common BaaS risks and proposes mitigation strategies for all of them. Virtue stresses that adoption of innovative business models is essential for new market entrants. In the build-versus-buy debate, he favors buy, although stresses that the BaaS provider should be a trusted partner, not simply a commodity supplier. Despite the significant risks involved in digital trans­formation adoption, doing nothing is the greatest risk of all. 

Claudio Lima explains how blockchain technology can be used to digitize and foster growth in the energy sector. DLT has the potential to optimize energy management processes and to deal with the growing complexity in the decentralized energy system. Lima introduces the IEEE P2418.5 Standard for Blockchain in Energy, which creates an industry framework that will help with interoperability among different blockchain use cases and technologies. A DLT layer complements existing smart grid architectures, improves grid security and efficiency, and reduces the costs of utility operation.

Magesh Kasthuri discusses how city administration can use blockchain. He provides various insights into decentralized architecture, including its technology benefits and security implementation. The article highlights a need for self-healing and auto-scaling services within a smart city architecture, which can be achieved by a blockchain network based on HyperLedger Fabric in a cloud environment. Blockchain can make cities more efficient and more resilient and adds greater transparency and security to a city’s digital processes. Applying DLT technologies in smart cities is an opportunity to reshape many aspects of how cities are organized and managed in order to better serve their citizens.

Magesh Kasthuri discusses how city administration can use blockchain. He provides various insights into decentralized architecture, including its technology benefits and security implementation. The article highlights a need for self-healing and auto-scaling services within a smart city architecture, which can be achieved by a blockchain network based on HyperLedger Fabric in a cloud environment. Blockchain can make cities more efficient and more resilient and adds greater transparency and security to a city’s digital processes. Applying DLT technologies in smart cities is an opportunity to reshape many aspects of how cities are organized and managed in order to better serve their citizens.

Patryk Walaszczyk discusses regulators’ role in blockchain adoption. He evaluates different approaches to regulatory sandboxes and questions their value in driving innovation and blockchain technology adoption. The author provides information about the scope and objectives of some blockchain sandboxes as well as their outcomes so far. It is to be hoped that current government efforts will accelerate blockchain adoption and that new business models across industries will emerge.

This article examines the technical feasibility of DLT to handle enterprise requirements and demands. The authors investigate the strategic value that blockchain technologies bring to the table, examine potential use cases in various business domains, and discuss the challenges involved in the realization of these use cases. They explore how the nature of certain businesses makes them better suited for blockchain technology and discuss the best practices involved in developing blockchain-based applications.

This issue of Cutter Business Technology Journal (CBTJ) continues the conversation we began in our last CBTJ and focuses on blockchain technology adoption beyond cryptocurrencies and financial services. The authors explore areas such as energy and utilities and government and present real examples of successful DLT implementations. They share their practical experiences in overcoming and addressing some of the known issues with blockchain projects.

This issue of Cutter Business Technology Journal (CBTJ) continues the conversation we began in our last CBTJ and focuses on blockchain technology adoption beyond cryptocurrencies and financial services. The authors explore areas such as energy and utilities and government and present real examples of successful DLT implementations. They share their practical experiences in overcoming and addressing some of the known issues with blockchain projects.

Today we are seeing a growing interest in the customer-centric business model among organizations that have come to see such models as a practical way to support a standard customer experience across all their various channels and brands.

As has been our tradition for the last several years, we’ve compiled the five most intriguing articles published by the Business Agility & Software Engineering Excellence practice for today’s Advisor. How did we come up with this list? We chose the articles that garnered the most feedback from Cutter Members. Your questions and comments not only make it possible to create lists like this, they help focus Cutter’s Senior Consultants’ research on the areas that are most important to organizations like yours. So please keep your feedback coming.