As the Chair of Connecticut’s Blockchain Working Group, I talk to a lot of people about blockchain. It is often assumed that my company, Chateaux, is a “Blockchain Company.” While it is true that Chateaux develops strong, production environment blockchain platforms, to describe us as “Blockchain Company” is very narrow. It also speaks to the common misconceptions about what truly comprises a full blockchain solution. Blockchain makes up a component, often just a slice, of the projects that we build. Complete blockchain platforms exist because of a wide array of required technologies.
At Chateaux we believe that blockchain, or distributed ledger technology, is ground breaking. It sets an application apart from previous stand-alone database environments. However, we are aware that blockchain is not developed in a vacuum. You cannot simply use blockchain to build a mobile app or an e-commerce website.
Long before the concept of distributed ledger existed, Chateaux successfully assisted our clients with our data management skills, our excellent UI/UX capabilities, our analytics abilities, and our overall core development skills. While excelling in these areas, we saw an easy transition to build blockchain applications as a capstone to our existing core competencies. Because, as previously mentioned, blockchain development does not stand alone. Take a look at the diagram below:
Chateaux incorporates a variety of services.
You will see that when developing blockchain (or any emerging tech project (blockchain, AI/ML, IoT)) you need cloud and security expertise, UI/UX, integration, analytics, etc. All of these skills factor into building a successful blockchain application.
Imagine that you are taking your car to the mechanic for a tune-up. While there are specialty shops that focus solely on tires or brakes or oil changes, I prefer the idea of one-stop shopping for my mechanic. Because the fact is, all of those components work together to make your car run. The same can be true for a blockchain build. You can find an organization that specializes in UI/UX, one that specializes in analytics, someone else to specialize in cloud migrations. However, once the full development is underway, you want to feel comfortable that your chosen consulting firm understands all areas of your project. It can be very risky to bring your project to six different companies and have them each focus on one specific area. You are may be putting the project at risk trying to integrate everyone’s work.
Luckily, Chateaux has an excellent track record with the skill sets mentioned. We also have expertise in blockchain development. But, it is this overall, soup-to-nuts development model that truly makes our work standout. I have heard Jason Kelley, GM Blockchain Services at IBM, speak on this specific topic. He jokes that, “you can’t simply sprinkle a little blockchain into your project.” A wide array of skills are required to create blockchain platforms-not simply chain code development. We ARE experts in cloud, we ARE experts in data, we ARE experts in analytics. It is because of all of this, that we ARE a Blockchain Company. Just please don’t call us that!
