Driven by recent research and following on from a successful The Block Chain Conference, Lighthouse Partners, Inc. is introducing its Blockchain Business Acceleration Advisory Service, aimed at established IT vendors that wish to embrace blockchain technology and approaches as part of their product and service offerings.
Research undertaken by Lighthouse at the end of 2015* indicate that many large IT vendors have yet to develop messaging, marketing plans and product strategies to address opportunities for blockchain offerings to provide to their customers and prospects. Fast forward just three months and the interest in blockchain from those vendors is clear, as exemplified by many of them attending this month’s The Block Chain Conference, produced by Lighthouse in San Francisco. Some 46% of attendees – by far the largest single constituency – came from established IT vendors.
Said Lighthouse Principal Pete Harris:
“Lighthouse has been tracking an increasing interest in blockchain from established IT vendors and has already begun to engage with some recognized global companies. As a result, we’ve developed a set of educational materials, processes and templates that will be applicable to most IT vendors that want to ride the blockchain wave.”
While each client engagement will be tailored to specific needs, likely common elements of the Blockchain Business Acceleration Advisory Service will be:
- Education – to bring vendors up to speed on blockchain technologies and applications and provide a common, ongoing and consistent level of knowledge and understanding across all departments and executives involved in business decisions and projects.
- POV Development – to help create individualized messaging that is relevant to vendors’ existing business, and determine the best channels to articulate that messaging to customers and prospects.
- Product Marketing – to determine what specific products and services would be applicable to a vendor’s customer and prospect base.
- Partner Development – to assist in identifying and engaging with partners that can accelerate time to market or address growth opportunities rapidly.
- Customer/Prospect Engagement – to create specific avenues and approaches to connect with customers and prospects to inform them of product and service offerings and to create a community of interest.
Lighthouse’s new service builds upon advisory roles already being undertaken by Harris for a number of blockchain technology and media vendors:
- Integrity Chain – A blockchain notary service for consumers and small businesses.
- Tendermint – A blockchain platform for enterprises and consortia of organizations.
With major IT vendors such as IBM and Microsoft entering and legitimizing the blockchain space, enterprise customers are now turning to their traditional vendor partners to help them leverage the potential of blockchains. Lighthouse stands ready to assist those vendors address the needs to those customers and prospects.