Companies who ignore the potential of blockchain for business optimization may fall behind the competition more quickly.
Cryptocurrencies may have fixated everyone with their insane valuations that have hogged the limelight over the past few years, but as the hype dies down the focus has rightfully shifted to blockchain. This really is the technology concept that underpins those digital currencies you’ve come to recognize (or not!). The topic can be narrowed even further here to put the spotlight on blockchain for business use.
With blockchain, information is stored in so-called ‘blocks’ that are verified against each other, in effect providing a ledger for all digital transactions.
Like artificial intelligence, virtual reality, analytics, and the Internet of Things, blockchain technology is still in its relative infancy, but it’s already playing a pivotal role in the enterprise digital revolution.
Thousands of blockchain apps are currently in development and enterprises worldwide are adopting pilot programs that also run into the thousands.
In fact, many tech industry analysts consider blockchain to be an ideal accompaniment to those technologies, and it is widely expected to become dominant within enterprise IT infrastructures in the near future, capturing a large slice of the US$500 billion global enterprise software market.
Who will gain?
The potential benefits for organizations to use blockchain to their advantage for may sound obvious once we talk about them here: By creating an unbreakable chain of transactions, blockchain can:
- Reduce the cost and time of transactions
- Greatly improve transaction and system security, which reduces the chance of fraud
- Provides infinitely greater transparency along the way
- Deal direct without having to involve intermediaries
All of this means greater process verification, auditing, smart data storage and use, and improved supply chain and product lifecycle management. Process verification can, as an example, eliminate the need for regurgitation of identity info whenever opening, say, a bank account or applying for lines of credit, or even just purchasing something off a website for the first time.
Any private or public entity in any sector that could see themselves benefiting from secure, centralized info storage and super-fast transactions can benefit from adoption of blockchain for business optimization and security.
Even though the protocols and regulations seem to just be emerging, there are multiple verified groups making a concerted effort, with full financial support and backing, to formalize this entire area. Companies could rely on blockchains to encrypt transactions and guarantee data transfer anonymity, all-the-while reducing major threats of data falling into the wrong hands.
Curious about all the ways that your business may be able to reduce threats and increase efficiencies?
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