Japanese technology giant Fujitsu Ltd. is launching a new blockchain consultancy service for companies that would like to know whether their plans for a distributed digital ledger are viable.

The company said its new service is “extremely rapid” and will provide proof-of-business and enable the “cocreation of a minimum viable product” in just five days.

The idea is that companies will hire Fujitsu’s blockchain experts to sit down with them and brainstorm ideas on how to apply the technology to their particular business processes, and work out if it will actually provide any useful benefits.

Blockchain is a digitized and decentralized public ledger for recording transactions stored on multiple networked computers, made popular by cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. The blockchain constantly grows as new transactions are recorded and added in chronological order, and can be checked by anyone in order for those transactions to be verified. It’s possible to digitize, code and insert practically any document into the blockchain and thus create an indelible record that cannot be changed.

A consultancy service such as Fujitsu’s could well prove to be popular, since blockchain is one of the fastest-growing technologies currently in demand by enterprises, said Holger Mueller, principal analyst and vice president at Constellation Research Inc. However, the analyst said many companies are struggling to understand the use cases and capabilities of blockchain, which makes it difficult to apply to their business processes.

“Shrink-wrapped service offerings like this one offered by Fujitsu are key to getting the foot in the door from a vendor perspective, as well as showing value for initial first pilots in the enterprise,” Mueller said. “Now it will be interesting to see how enterprises accept these offerings, and what kind of projects will derive from them.”

Fujitsu says it wants to help customers avoid some of the common pitfalls of blockchain projects.

“Blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies hold the potential to transform organizations and entire industries,” said Frederik De Breuck, head of the company’s Blockchain Innovation Center in Brussels, Belgium. “Inspired by high levels of interest from our customers, we have created this ready-to-go package not only to jumpstart the customers’ blockchain efforts but also to review and improve existing projects.”

The proof-of-business approach is in contrast to the more established proof-of-concept method, which is one of the “most common mistakes customers make,” Chris Pilling, a lead architect at Fujitsu, told The Register.

“They set off in the wrong direction by focusing on the technology,” He said. “They spend time and money on seeing if the technology works. We’re pushing the proof of business, so we work with customers to ask what the business case is.”

Fujitsu’s five-day blockchain consultancy starts with a basic intro to the technology before consultants sit down with the customers to try to define their business problems and see if blockchain is the most appropriate solution. Because the course also involves the cocreation of prototype products, customers must also sign a license that governs what they can and can’t do with those products.

Fujitsu said its five-day blockchain consultancy is available immediately with concept prices starting at 9,900 euros, or $11,500.

Image: Jane Boyko/Flickr