Blockchain technology is getting accepted by companies from various industries — financial, healthcare, legal, education, and even governments — that have recognized its future and want to actively participate in order to share its benefits.
In that sense, organizations of all kinds have started addressing the burning technological challenges of their time and adopting blockchain to modernize their infrastructure and pull out of the digital stone age.
For instance, blockchain technology is providing the solution to modern issues of securing people’s sensitive information and rights to identity.
Moreover, it’s expected that corporations will spend $20 billion a year by 2024 on blockchain technical services, while governments from all around the world are already actively seeking ways to integrate blockchain security into their infrastructure — electrical grids, government apparatus, financial system, etc.
Indeed, for a technology still in its infancy, the results are overwhelming, albeit differing from one industry to the next. However, the benefits of blockchain technology are universal, and the potential can only increase from hereon.
Here is how to get out of the digital stone age by implementing blockchain solutions.
- Accountability and Privacy
A growing business challenge for some industries is the lack of accountability in data and information systems. Blockchain is appealing here as a way to manage data that is transparent, thereby increasing accountability, while still protecting rights to privacy and control over users’ own data.
This can be particularly useful for legal and financial transactions, but also in government systems that manage electoral rolls, national insurance and health information of citizens. Through sophisticated encryption and control mechanisms, blockchain is able to direct provably immutable data such that individuals are transparently verified identifies, yet without revealing more than is necessary, or only what is consented by the data owner.
- Traceability Enhancement for Data
For industries subject to fraudulent behavior — by both internal or external actors– prevention is the key to solving this problem. Blockchain offers a unique advantage in fraud prevention, utilizing easy traceability of data back to its origin.
For instance, a complex supply chain can make it very difficult for companies to trace proper paths of goods and services, which may negatively affect the efficiency of their internal processes in addition to user acquisition and retention.
Therefore, business solutions directly dealing with end-users are the most at risk of losing customers by creating convoluted and ineffective processes that obscure the origins of goods and their paths.
Blockchain provides transparency via an immutable ledger, or record of transactions that allows for quick and efficient fact assertion via clear audit trails that are recorded into the network itself and are therefore unchangeable. That means you can never get into a situation where you don’t know where your supplies are, when customers are served, and how to resolve a user complaint quickly and satisfactory.
- Enhanced Business Security
In terms of maintaining constant and reliable business security, there is no better solution than blockchain. Record-keeping has never been easier since the technology arrived on the scene — no matter the size of your business.
That is made possible by spreading access points across the blockchain network, thus removing any possibility of compromising data — as every change to the data must be verified and accepted by all the points. Simultaneously, end-to-end encryption and a hierarchical permission structure have brought user authentication security to the next level.
For organizations dealing with large quantities of user-sensitive information, securing that data — and relying on the high level of security over time — can make or break a company, its reputation, and customer base, be it a small business or a large corporation.
- Higher Process Efficiency and Execution Speed
Since record-keeping in the blockchain is achieved through a single digital ledger, human error is minimized, and third-party mediation is completely eliminated in regard to data management.
This also means that all transactions going through blockchain are inherently faster and safer. Tying into the trustless principle of blockchain, the data transparency also ensures that it remains intact and usable at all times and by all authorized participants.
Cross-border financial transactions rely on this aspect of the blockchain to achieve unprecedented speed and quality of B2C security when moving assets from one part of the world to another, for example. This is an incredible competitive advantage companies need to make use of in order to stay ahead of other market participants and provide the best service possible.
- Risk and Cost Reduction
By integrating third-party solutions into their services, companies must be wary of the level of risk they are bringing with them as well as continually being vigilant of the entailing costs.
Blockchain mass adoption empowers companies to base their processes and services on a reliable architecture that reduces their costs significantly and streamlines operations in the long run.
For instance, a supply chain can optimize its processes by having constant access and transparency to relevant information and be confident in the knowledge of an asset’s origin and authenticity.
How to Get There
As an industry that is still a big unknown to numerous companies and their executive staff, blockchain technology has not shown its full potential — business model challenges in blockchain adoption are yet to be fully explored and overcome.
However, some companies successfully help others to get on the blockchain wagon and realize their business goals in a completely different manner, but with a set of newly opened horizons and a wide variety of possibilities.
Each company has their own ideas and needs, but every one of such companies is on a mission to find the appropriate method of applying the basic principles of blockchain in a unique manner suitable for specific company’s needs.
And therein lies the beauty of blockchain challenges and opportunities. Get all the puzzle pieces and come up with new and inventive ways to incorporate them in existing infrastructural landscapes by making databases and processes decentralized, impenetrable, and agile.
Ultimately, by dragging them out of the digital stone age, companies gain the opportunity to revolutionize their business models and even entire industries, thus securing their long-term existence on the market.
