Interview - Rainer Lenz - Workshop in Tartu | CHEDTEB Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership

Interview - Rainer Lenz - Workshop in Tartu

The first interview from one of the speakers of our Workshop in Tartu, Rainer Lenz (FH Bielefeld)!

 

What made you interested in blockchain or smart contracts technology in the first place? 

I am a Finance Guy, so Bitcoin and the Crypto world brought me to Blockchain and the Smart Contracts. Well my students actively request that I am lecturing about these topics. Therefore, I have had quickly to learn about it in order to have a little more knowledge than my students. 


What has made the technologies (especially cryptocurrencies) so popular in the last year in your opinion?

Difficult to say! Probably Bitcoin and the chance to win or lose a lot of money. But it might be as well the case that people like the liberty of having a peer-to-peer orga-nized finance system without banks. Even people on the street smell that the current financial system with the high indebtedness of private households, states and cor-porates is not sustainable in the long run and are looking for alternatives.


Do you think that companies are open (or will be open) to implement these technologies? 

Blockchain and Smart Contracts enable corporates and individuals to collaborate in a total different way, which creates mutual benefits for every stakeholder. However, the precondition for a such a win-win situation is the readiness of corporates to open for external partners. A cultural change of corporate organisation is needed with emphasis on flexibility and an outward-looking perspective. This goes hand in hand with a flat hierarchy, decentralisation and empowerment of employees in de-cision making. But all this can’t be set up from an external consultant agency from the outside. An intrinsic process of organisational change is necessary! 


To what extent the technologies could potentially improve the efficiency of the company? 

Recently Samsung announce to convert their supply chain towards Blockchain and expected reduction of shipping costs of 20%. That is a lot! However, the return of investment has to exceed the migration costs to reorganise and redesign process-es, so the investment delivers some positive present value. Otherwise it won’t make economically sense. 

But the most important point concerning the return is what I recently read in PwC study about Blockchain: “You cannot get the return by yourself; you must be willing and able to collaborate with customers, suppliers, and competitors in ways that you have never done before.”


Where do you see the technologies in 5 years? 

Currently corporate managers are lacking the needed openness to cash in benefits of collaboration via the use of Blockchain technology. However, in 5 years the world might have changed, and we have more successful use cases. Then the increase of new Blockchain based competitors will force them to convert their processes. But at this time it might be too late for some of them.  


What is most important from your specialization that the students should know in order to apply them later in the company/practice? 

Pure knowledge in Finance will get less important in the future. Students have to know about data analysis, blockchain, cryptography and algorithms otherwise they will lose employability. 


Do you think that the blockchain processes are more suitable to be taught in a form of a short course or as a part of a complete Master degree?

Short courses could only provide students a rough understanding of the concept but not the skills to implement a Blockchain based process. For digital transformation of organisations and it’s processes a variety of skills are needed: Very broad knowledge of existing corporate functions and processes, a clear idea of the new organisational structure, the new business model and an understanding the tech-nology, its benefits and risks. Furthermore the digital transformer needs to have the capacity to redesign corporate processes and corporate organization and at same time needs the social skills to convince people to adapt new processes and new technology. These portfolio of skills you can’t learn with a few days. Therefore we need new interdisciplinary Master study programmes which train students in such skills with new didactic approaches (design thinking) and in a blended learning en-vironment. 


What are the other relevant fields/subjects that should/can go hand in hand with your specialization? 

Well as I already said: data analysis, algorithms, blockchain and process design combined with social skills of communication, teamwork and change management are as well important. However it is not only the knowledge it as well the design thinking approach and the readiness to leave the comfort zone for changing, which counts. 


How would you propose a course for your specialization, what it should in-clude?   

With cryptocurrencies and ICOs you can’t teach Finance like you have done in the past ten years. For an understanding of cryptocurrencies students need to under-stand Blockchain and Cryptography. Therefore, finance becomes more amd more aligned with IT and mathematic skills.


What skills/background should the teachers have in order to pass the subject to the students? 

Lectures needs to be an expert in Finance and should have a good understanding of underlying technology and cryptography.

About

This project shared by the three partner universities Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences/D, Brno University of Technology/CZ and University of Tartu/EST aims to provide the framework for a future joint master's degree on Digital Transformation of Corporate Business.

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