Before exploring how you can integrate blockchain into your business, let us learn more about what the technology is all about. In essence, blockchain is a data structure. However, the characteristics are quite different from traditional data storage schemes. Blockchain brings a whole new dimension of security, provenance, integrity, and decentralization to the organizations using it.
How Does Blockchain Assist Different Use Cases?
Blockchain is a technology that provides many benefits. While most people think that it serves cryptocurrencies only, blockchain use cases go way beyond that. Be it shared economy, banking, education, real estate, networking, healthcare, or any other industry. Different business models could apply several blockchain protocols for scalability purposes.
Financial Services
This niche does not only cater to cryptocurrencies. All payment gateways, banks, mortgages, and wealth management solutions fall under the category. Given the scale and operational sophistication, it is a reasonable approach to bring a deal of blockchain-based use cases into the sector.
For instance, banks make millions of contracts with their customers and partners. The possibility of developing a business is always existent because of online communication. Banks use enormous resources to validate the integrity of the document at the time of maturity of an agreement.
Contrary to this traditional approach, blockchain offers smart contracts with an ability to automate agreements in a digitally secure environment. Given its tremendous benefits, organizations are investing in blockchain technology to get the efficiency of smart contracts onboard.
For instance, a couple of months ago, American Express filed a license, proposing an upgrade to its customer reward program. They aim to keep a record of all the customers in their program and release their dues in crypto tokens.
Supply Chain
The core of the supply chain industry rests upon data integrity, payment efficiency, and provenance. Luckily, supply chains give priority to these three areas. To begin with, a supply chain may have dozens of stages, tens of geographical locations to consider, thousands of payments, and hundreds of personnel to carry out all these tasks. It is quite evident that the chain is quite complicated. Since traditional methods require an enormous workforce operating to make both ends meet, the costs are significantly higher. However, recently, multinationals have started investing in blockchain (both R&D and development) to avail its sheer benefits.
Since blockchain keeps everything on a public ledger, every stakeholder has clear visibility over the current state. It also facilitates auditing as firms do not have to spend a huge sum while validating the integrity of data. One of the crucial factors is that it happens to be decentralized, so a single organization cannot control the entire network. Consensus, a critical approach for maintaining transparency, helps to commit any block and make it a permanent record.
Moreover, since it facilitates payment transferring as well, the efficiency of a supply chain use case can be enhanced many times. This is done by enabling crypto transactions between participants. This is an instant method and does not incur heavy charges on either of the parties.
Marketing
Studies have revealed that due to fraudulent elements in the market, the advertising industry suffers a loss of roughly $50 million per day. This is quite overwhelming!
Therefore, it is worth it for marketers and advertisers to invest in blockchain technology. The primary reason is, it saves them millions of dollars with the help of smart contracts. As a result, no one can falsify a claim or agreement made. Moreover, companies can also have better visibility of their expenditures, debts, and dues.
Human Resource
Investing in blockchain technology for HR means that you are directly affecting someone’s livelihood. Third parties and even some job portals interfere in the HR records. As a result, several people might lose their jobs. Moreover, opportunities are given only to a few people. Since blockchain happens to be an impenetrable data structure, it is nearly impossible for anyone to amend it.
It can also play a vital role in streamlining the payroll of local and foreign employees. Some large scale organizations are investing in blockchain to design and implement use cases. This help to make employee evaluation an efficient process.
How To Invest In Blockchain?
Blockchain technology has industry-disrupting privileges. If you need to invest your time and money in this technology, it depends on whether your business requires any or all of the following:
- An end to the decision-making monopoly also referred to as decentralization
- Cryptographic storage of data
- No modification, deletion or creation of recorded data
- Transparency
It turns out that no single business can thrive in its respective niche without considering at least one of the above factors. Now that you know all of your ‘whys,’ you need to ask yourself a simple question, ‘How am I going to invest in blockchain?’
Laying The Groundwork For Creating A Blockchain Use Case
Since it happens to be one of the most trending technologies in the market, it is pretty reasonable to understand that blockchain developers are quite expensive than the regular ones. If you want to scale your business and keep the cost under control, it is crucial to come up with a concrete idea, revise it multiple times, consult different people, and hire a blockchain programmer to start developing your venture.
Therefore, before investing your money to scale up the business, it is crucial to invest your time and come up with a ‘near-perfect’ idea.
Reduce Expenditure
Every enterprise needs to lower the operational costs sooner or later to surge its profits. With the help of cryptocurrencies, blockchain favors a drop in transaction costs. It also reduces the amount of money required to store and protect data due to increased risks and maintenance fees.
Some may argue that there are existing solutions in the market for keeping your expenditures under the belt. Investing in blockchain offers an enterprise a single-window facility for security, cost reduction, and efficiency.
If your business is generating a reasonable amount of data or you run a huge IoT network, utilizing blockchain should be your primary concern. Since your associated costs will be lower, you will be able to spend resources for expanding and scaling up your business.
Securing Data
It happens to a complementary outcome of investing in a blockchain use case, regardless of the niche. Although every business requires security, there are some ventures in the market whose entire business model thrives based on security. Furthermore, they cannot afford any lapse.
Instead of spending millions of dollars hiring people for mitigating attacks and auditing in an IT firm, it is wise to invest in blockchain. It can prevent data leakage and enhance visibility and integrity for auditing purposes.
Moreover, since it uses hashing and complex cryptography, it becomes almost impossible to hack and alter the data, hence favoring confidentiality, integrity, and availability. When there is a secure data structure at the core of your business, you do not have to worry about taking any ‘extra’ measure. Furthermore, you also get an edge over your competitors, and the market stance also becomes concrete, thus attracting a wide variety of customers – which defines the scale of your business.
Blockchain Technology Enhances Every Business
It is important to determine the areas or better use cases in which your business requires a blockchain implementation. Hiring a blockchain developer for your company is a futuristic yet an expensive move, so you must weigh in everything. You must have a robust plan before heading towards its implementation.
Rest assured that technology is worth your time and money. It will not only bring decentralization to your organization. It will also empower you with efficiency, security, and scalability.
Let us talk about the return of investment in blockchain. In short term potential, the operational and transactional costs are reduced to a great extent. Moreover, in the long term potential, your business might have a crucial role in creating plenty of opportunities in the market.
