Despite the popular belief that blockchain technology is only designed to make cryptocurrency transactions and earn bitcoins, blockchain continues its entry into many areas of life: social media, gaming, healthcare, real estate, and more. The technology aims to improve work efficiency, reduce costs for companies and improve the customer experience.
Blockchain can be described as a digitized database and belongs to digital logging technology (DLT), which does not involve any central data warehouse or administrative functionality. Why is it an advantage for a company? Decentralization, along with transparency, gives each participant the opportunity to view all recorded data, ensure security, and track important information.
Here are areas that blockchain has already entered and has shown that it is worth relying on this technology.
Supply chain management, for example, is an important but vulnerable part of many companies’ workflow. The parties involved in the process often do not interact directly with each other and still apply paper-based information collection and storage methods. Blockchain offers complete paperwork removal: document flow is automated, digital certification is also used. Most importantly, each authorized member of the supply chain can track the product from the manufacturer to the consumer and prevent counterfeit distribution.
Several U.S. retail giants that suffered outbreaks of foodborne illness and more food withdrawals have implemented blockchain technology in their food supply chains. Previously, tracking a product took at least 7 days, and these days you can identify the origin of a food for a few seconds.
Thus, blockchain solutions made the recovery process faster, more efficient, and cost-saving. Meanwhile, customers have also experienced blockchain adoption in their hypermarkets. At Walmart Chinese stores, for example, they can scan the QR code and get all the product information – from the farm location to inspection certificates.
Healthcare is the field where blockchain-based solutions have become established as a highly secure and transparent way to maintain electronic health records (EHRs). Both doctors and patients are given permission to access and use the records when needed. At the same time, blockchain solutions work with smart contracts that protect the privacy of EHR data. Data from medical devices and clinical research are encrypted, insurance can also be run and stored. Another use case is the control of the supply chain of equipment and prescription drugs.
E-commerce increasingly requires blockchain technology. Again, the supply chain is a crucial issue here: controlling goods and managing supplies are often difficult tasks, but the blockchain helps companies manage their inventory more efficiently. Consumers who entrust their money and data to e-commerce organizations are concerned about data security and transparency, but this problem can be solved with blockchain development. Even slight changes in the transaction are evident in a blockchain, and tracking who made a mistake is no longer a problem. It is also possible to make cryptographic payments.
The following area is related to cryptocurrency transactions. DeFi, short for decentralized financing, not only includes the transfer of simple assets, but also refers to more complex financial use cases. Blockchain implementation contributes to the exclusion of intermediaries and, as a result, reduces costs. All transactions are encrypted and immutable, multi-step authentication mechanisms make the system difficult for unauthorized members to access. Recent developments include the opportunity to turn to P2P lending services and digital banking.
Social media can also be affected by blockchain. Along with its global popularity and ability to connect people around the world, social media is still vulnerable to account piracy, identity leakage, and copyright infringement. To address these issues, blockchain offers copyright protection, digital identity verification, and impartial licensing.
The real estate industry, e-government, gaming and many more have joined the wave of adoption of the blockchain. Once your business chooses innovation, delegate technology deployment to one of the enterprise blockchain companies that will develop a future-proof enterprise DLT for you. With blockchain, your business will change the rules of the game in your field.