Overview

Choosing a blockchain platform is a business decision, not just a technical one. This practical, jargon-free course explains the fundamental architecture choice, what different platform families are genuinely good at, how vendor lock-in can cost you later, and exactly what to ask before signing a proposal.

Learning Objectives

Upon course completion, employees will gain a full and clear understanding of:

• The fundamental difference between public, private and permissioned blockchain networks
• What different platform families are genuinely good at, and their trade-offs
• The cost and throughput trade-offs between public and permissioned approaches
• How a platform choice can create vendor lock-in later
• The right questions to ask a vendor or systems integrator before signing
• How to evaluate any blockchain platform proposal with a clear, repeatable framework

Course Contents

Unit 1: The Architecture Decision

• The three fundamental network architectures: public, private and permissioned
• What "permissionless" and "permissioned" mean for a business
• Why most regulated industries land on a middle ground
• Matching the architecture to the actual business need, not the hype

Unit 2: What the Platform Families Do Well

• Broad public smart-contract platforms and their developer ecosystem advantage
• Modular permissioned platforms built for enterprise use
• Platforms purpose-built for regulated industries (finance, healthcare, supply chain)
• High-throughput public networks, cost and throughput trade-offs, and the blurring categories

Unit 3: Lock-in, Cost and Data Portability

• How tooling, developer skills and data formats create vendor lock-in
• Data portability and exit terms: what to ask before signing
• Predictable versus unpredictable cost, and who bears the infrastructure cost
• Total cost of ownership and building an exit plan from day one

Unit 4: Evaluating a Platform Proposal

• Five sharp questions to ask any vendor or systems integrator
• Red flags worth pausing on in a proposal
• Who else should be involved before you sign
• Future-proofing your decision as the platform landscape shifts

Note

Please note: named platforms throughout are illustrations of a category, not a current ranking; the platform landscape moves fast. Content is current as at September 2026.