Blockchain technology, popularly linked to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, offers features to the software industry that companies around the world use on a daily basis. Every company wants to increase its profits, and one of the easiest ways to achieve this is to save time or money on processes already in place. Blockchain is the technology that can help save time and, in greater effects, save money.
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Almost everyone can benefit from blockchain
Whether it’s a large company or a small and medium-sized business, everyone benefits from using some aspect of blockchain. If you’ve ever sold something using a payment gateway, you’ve experienced the jumps money has to make before it gets to your bank account. In those jumps there are the particularly famous transaction fees that traders lose on every single transaction. This is probably the first blockchain use case that businesses can get relief from: eliminating hefty transaction fees.
In addition to several use cases in finance, blockchain is used in many other industries: healthcare, real estate, supply chain, certificate and compliance, and oil and gas, just to name a few.
What is Blockchain technology?
It is a method of recording information that uses encryption, making it extremely difficult for attackers to modify or delete any information that has been recorded. The popularity of the term comes from the way records are stored and chained to each other cryptographically, forming a chain of blocks. The most technical term for this is a “back linked list”.
For an in-depth reading, check out this article that explains What is Blockchain? – Everything you need to know.
How can blockchain benefit business?
Blockchain technology enables traceability, trusted information, automation, and trust by eliminating third-party participation. Operations within a company such as requesting a record of who did what when and where or knowing the life of a product from source to destination with confidence in the data collected can be implemented by adopting blockchain technology.
For accounting for goods, services, or finances, a daunting number of businesses still use pen and paper to keep track of every transaction. For companies that maintain records digitally, such as on an Excel sheet, the task of controlling a particular chain of transactions becomes extremely difficult.
Blockchain by nature timestamp every event recorded on its digital ledger, making the control of a transaction extremely efficient. By taking advantage of the aspect of immutability (the inability to modify or modify an existing record), it is very convenient to identify fraud.
As mentioned above, the nature of blockchain technology is to mark the time of each recorded event. In this way, all events are recorded in sequence of occurrence. A perfect example of this is the collection of information for a recall of goods. Currently, recalls are a nightmare for any industry as there is no elegant method to recall affected products. This problem can be solved by blockchain by providing more reliable information to any entrepreneur about their products.
In no case is blockchain a complete solution. It is something that can be adopted and implemented together with a software already in place.
Which companies have embraced blockchain?
Some of the biggest companies embracing blockchain are FedEx, Walmart, IBM, Mastercard, Pfizer, DHL, Maersk, Siemens and many more. Let’s look at some examples:
Blockchain in Healthcare
Merck has launched a pilot project to trace and track drugs from factory to patient, promoting consumer confidence in the origin of their medicines.
The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) announced a blockchain platform pilot project in 2019 to track and trace pharmaceuticals targeting the problem of drug counterfeiting.
Blockchain in the supply chain
Walmart has launched two blockchain pilots focused on food traceability.
FedEx’s blockchain interest stems from recoding temperature, vibration levels and many other details on freight transport to ensure tamper-proof delivery.
Blockchain in Real Estate
One aspect of blockchain called tokenization is the biggest factor in using this technology in real estate. Tokens are very similar to stocks. While shares represent ownership in a company, tokens represent ownership in real estate.
Finexity is a platform that allows you to make small monetary investments in any property listed on their platform.
Blockchain in government
Estonia, Switzerland, Malta, China, are some of the main countries that have adopted blockchain technology in their government processes.
Estonia is the first country to establish a program that uses blockchain for digital residency.
China has announced its plans to shift the country’s monetary policy to a blockchain-based system.
Can blockchain be used for healthcare?
Yes! Currently, there is a huge technological gap when it comes to the healthcare sector. Paper reports, records, requests and prescriptions are still the predominantly used method of record keeping. This, together with the lack of innovation in the preservation of digital patient records, makes the healthcare industry inefficient considering current digital standards.
Blockchain technology enables traceability, immutability, and auditability of patient health data, making patient data storage secure and regulatory compliant, as well as giving every patient complete control and access to their data.
As mentioned above, companies like Merck and organizations like the FDA are working with blockchain technology to ensure consumer trust in the provenance of drugs and other pharmaceuticals.
What are the downsides of blockchain for businesses?
The disadvantages of using blockchain for businesses occur when the reasons for using it are imperfect by nature. There are two aspects to this topic: implementing blockchain for the wrong reasons and implementing blockchain incorrectly.
Implementing a blockchain for the wrong reasons
In the crypto bubble of 2017, many companies not only used the term blockchain to attract investors to buy in an illegitimate company, but also to increase name and fame when no feature of the company used blockchain.
Incorrect implementation of a blockchain
The blockchain chain comes from the use of cryptography to obtain the guarantee of secure data retention.
One company used this feature to produce a chat application that records and transmits chat history using blockchain, promoting greater security. This is an inefficient use of blockchain technology since the encryption techniques currently used when transmitting messages on chat applications work perfectly. In other words, message encryption works well, and implementing a blockchain to manage security is an overly complicated and perhaps unnecessary solution.
What is Blockchain technology?
It is a method of recording information that uses encryption, making it extremely difficult for attackers to modify or delete any information that has been recorded. The popularity of the term comes from the way records are stored and chained to each other cryptographically, forming a chain of blocks. The most technical term for this is a “back linked list”.
How can blockchain benefit business?
Blockchain technology enables traceability, trusted information, automation, and trust by eliminating third-party participation. Operations within a company such as requesting a record of who did what when and where or knowing the life of a product from source to destination with confidence in the data collected can be implemented by adopting blockchain technology.
For accounting for goods, services, or finances, a daunting number of businesses still use pen and paper to keep track of every transaction. For companies that maintain records digitally, such as on an Excel sheet, the task of controlling a particular chain of transactions becomes extremely difficult.
Blockchain by nature timestamp every event recorded on its digital ledger, making the control of a transaction extremely efficient. By taking advantage of the aspect of immutability (the inability to modify or modify an existing record), it is very convenient to identify fraud.
As mentioned above, the nature of blockchain technology is to mark the time of each recorded event. In this way, all events are recorded in sequence of occurrence. A perfect example of this is the collection of information for a recall of goods. Currently, recalls are a nightmare for any industry as there is no elegant method to recall affected products. This problem can be solved by blockchain by providing more reliable information to any entrepreneur about their products.
In no case is blockchain a complete solution. It is something that can be adopted and implemented together with a software already in place.
Which companies have embraced blockchain?
Some of the biggest companies embracing blockchain are FedEx, Walmart, IBM, Mastercard, Pfizer, DHL, Maersk, Siemens and many more. Let’s look at some examples:
Blockchain in Healthcare
Merck has launched a pilot project to trace and track drugs from factory to patient, promoting consumer confidence in the origin of their medicines.
The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) announced a blockchain platform pilot project in 2019 to track and trace pharmaceuticals targeting the problem of drug counterfeiting.
Blockchain in the supply chain
Walmart has launched two blockchain pilots focused on food traceability.
FedEx’s blockchain interest stems from recoding temperature, vibration levels and many other details on freight transport to ensure tamper-proof delivery.
Blockchain in Real Estate
One aspect of blockchain called tokenization is the biggest factor in using this technology in real estate. Tokens are very similar to stocks. While shares represent ownership in a company, tokens represent ownership in real estate.
Finexity is a platform that allows you to make small monetary investments in any property listed on their platform.
Blockchain in government
Estonia, Switzerland, Malta, China, are some of the main countries that have adopted blockchain technology in their government processes.
Estonia is the first country to establish a program that uses blockchain for digital residency.
China has announced its plans to shift the country’s monetary policy to a blockchain-based system.
Can blockchain be used for healthcare?
Yes! Currently, there is a huge technological gap when it comes to the healthcare sector. Paper reports, records, requests and prescriptions are still the predominantly used method of record keeping. This, together with the lack of innovation in the preservation of digital patient records, makes the healthcare industry inefficient considering current digital standards.
Blockchain technology enables traceability, immutability, and auditability of patient health data, making patient data storage secure and regulatory compliant, as well as giving every patient complete control and access to their data.
As mentioned above, companies like Merck and organizations like the FDA are working with blockchain technology to ensure consumer trust in the provenance of drugs and other pharmaceuticals.
What are the downsides of blockchain for businesses?
The disadvantages of using blockchain for businesses occur when the reasons for using it are imperfect by nature. There are two aspects to this topic: implementing blockchain for the wrong reasons and implementing blockchain incorrectly.
Implementing a blockchain for the wrong reasons
In the crypto bubble of 2017, many companies not only used the term blockchain to attract investors to buy in an illegitimate company, but also to increase name and fame when no feature of the company used blockchain.
Incorrect implementation of a blockchain
The blockchain chain comes from the use of cryptography to obtain the guarantee of secure data retention.
One company used this feature to produce a chat application that records and transmits chat history using blockchain, promoting greater security. This is an inefficient use of blockchain technology since the encryption techniques currently used when transmitting messages on chat applications work perfectly. In other words, message encryption works well, and implementing a blockchain to manage security is an overly complicated and perhaps unnecessary solution.
How could blockchain be used in the future?
The possibilities of using blockchain are limitless, in every sector. In most cases, this is an addition to existing software and, in some cases, a replacement of an existing software system to increase efficiency.
One idea to make you think is the implementation of a distributed insurance scheme where a company is not responsible for deciding whether a payment is fair or not, but instead a community of people, all of whom have a common interest in equalizing the fairness of payments.
Blockchain is a mature technology ready for innovation and implementation. After reading this article, where would you use blockchain in your business?
