Blockchain for Business: How It Can Revolutionize Industries

Blockchain technology offers lots of opportunities for businesses across different sectors. It has been here for years, but it seems only now companies understand its value for their processes. It isn’t hard to predict that blockchain will impact the future as we know it, while 80% of banking experts say that blockchain will bring many changes in the next 20 years. Although blockchain already changes the way we handle and manage transactions and operate on the market, it will become more and more widespread in the next few years.

Blockchain technology is becoming increasingly popular in the BFSI segment for financial transactions and cross-border payments. It is used to perform secure payments, maintain customer identities, and settle cross-border payments in Banking and financial sectors. The report shows that the global Blockchain market is suggested to grow at a CAGR of 42.8% (during the 2018-2023 period) and is expected to reach global revenue of USD 19.9 Bn by 2023. 

But blockchain technology has shown many more use cases and opportunities for different industries and businesses. Below, we’ve outlined the benefits of blockchain and blockchain business ideas.

Benefits of Blockchain for Business

1. Trust

One of the reasons why blockchain is important for business is that it creates trust between different parties. This makes parties want to engage in business dealings that involve data sharing or transactions that they may not have otherwise done or would require an intermediary to do. Trust is one of the most well-known benefits of blockchain for businesses.

2. Decentralized Structure

Blockchain proves its value by reducing the need for a central actor who enables trust. It makes it possible for transactions to happen solely between two parties without any intermediate being involved and, therefore, organize a decentralized structure.

3. Improved Security and Privacy

Blockchain is known for its security. It offers enhanced security offered through its working mechanism. Blockchain technology creates an unalterable transaction record with end-to-end encryption, which reduces the chances of fraud and unauthorized activity. Blockchain data is stored across the entire computer network, making it nearly impossible to hack in contrast to conventional computer systems.

4. Reduced Costs

The nature of blockchain can also help reduce costs for organizations. That is because blockchain offers efficiencies in processing transactions. It can also help reduce manual tasks like aggregating and amending data while easing the reporting and auditing process. Blockchain streamlines the clearing and settlement process, which helps eliminate needed costs.

5. Speed

Since blockchain’s key advantage is the reduced need for intermediaries and automation of manual processes in transactions, the technology handles transactions twice faster than conventional methods. Blockchain can even handle the transaction within seconds in some cases, while traditional mythos requires hours at least. Even though the speed blockchain products require for transactions depends on multiple factors, it is always faster than any other method.

6. Immutability

Immutability means that all data and transactions recorded on the blockchain can’t be deleted, modified, or changed. All transactions happening on the blockchain are time-stamped and date-stamped, meaning there is a permanent record. Therefore, blockchain can be used to track data over time, offering a secure and reliable audit of exciting data. 

Blockchain Implementation Use Cases

Solstice (Healthcare Case)

Solstice has implemented blockchain to organize the transfer of sensitive medical data between doctors, clinics, and other trusted parties. Blockchain in this application allows for secure and quick data sharing, making it easier for clinics to learn about patients’ medical history and provide an accurate diagnosis. Since this data is sensitive, blockchain is the only option for its security.

HYPR (IoT/Cybersecurity Case)

HYPR upgrades cybersecurity by combining smartphone technology and the highly secure FIDO token. This is how the True Passwordless Authentication feature was developed. Thanks to the decentralized credential solutions offered by blockchain and biometric authentication, IoT devices became tamper-proof.

Chainalysis (FinTech/Cybersecurity Case)

Chainalysis offers data stored on the blockchain ledger to financial institutions, exchanges, and government agencies in over 40 countries. It was first developed to help institutions monitor cryptocurrency exchanges. Tools offered by the company allow you to monitor and identify fraudulent transactions and compliance violations, which allows you to develop a reliable Blockchain-based economy.

Challenges and Risks of Blockchain for Business

1. Scalability

Although blockchain is improving over time, it is still a challenge for the technology to manage a large number of users at a single time. That is because blockchain involves several complex algorithms to process one transaction. As more and more people are using blockchain-based products for transactions, the average transactions have also increased dramatically, which makes scalability harder.

2. Hackers and Shadow Dealing

Even though the thing about blockchain is the absence of authority and decentralization, the industry, in general, lacks a set of regulatory oversight. This makes it a volatile environment that can quickly become an easy target for market manipulation. While blockchain has been proven stable and safe, it still experiences many cyberattacks because of users’ lack of knowledge and poor development. And the truth is that regardless of how aware users are about cybersecurity, they still can face an attack on their crypto wallet.

3. Complex to Understand and Adopt

Blockchain technology is complex and makes it hard for non-specialists to acknowledge its potential and benefits. As a result, blockchain isn’t evolving as it could. It takes years to understand the entire concept, and there is a lack of specialists who can build stable and efficient blockchain-based products.  

4. Privacy

Even though blockchain transparency benefits most industries, it can become a liability if used in a sensitive environment. That is because this technology still has to go a long way to be fully adopted and accepted broadly. 

5. Costs

Blockchain is controversial in some cases. It is usually implemented to reduce the expenses related to the third parties involved in the process of transactions. However, most blockchain ledgers have high gas fees, making them not affordable solutions for some businesses.

5 Steps to Implement Blockchain into Business

Identify a Use-Case

The first step is to identify the use case. The process involves identifying, clarifying, and organizing your requirements and business needs for a blockchain. Ideally, the use case should answer the following questions:

• Why do you need a blockchain for your business? 
• What tasks will be handled by a blockchain in your business?
• What goals are you trying to achieve through blockchain implementation?

It adds clarity to the process and will be a good starting point for a successful implementation by a provider.

Develop a Proof of Concept (POC)

Once you identify the use cases, you are ready to move on to POC. Large and well-known companies have already seen the potential of blockchain implementation, so they are investing in building a proof of concept (POC). You may consider implementing blockchain in any suitable programming language at this stage.

Chose a Blockchain Platform

The next step is choosing a platform that suits your budget but has also shown to be effective in the chosen field. It is vital to note that marketing can lead to the wrong choice, so analysis plays a vital role in this stage.

During the search, you must ensure the blockchain platform you choose possesses an open-source station. You should ensure the tech team is organized and offers proper support.

Hire a Team

As we mentioned, blockchain implementation is a complex process requiring specific skills and knowledge. That is why it is best to hire specialists who can lead your project from the beginning. You can also hire developers to extend your team. Your development provider will help you resolve questions like what blockchain ledger to use or what set of rules smart contrast will follow to execute. Since you won’t be able to fix bugs after smart contracts are released, hiring experts is the safest and most cost-effective way to organize the process.

Deployment

The next step is integration and deployment. This stage involves hosting all your applications on the main chain. In case you build a hybrid solution ( both on-chain as well as off-chain entities), deploy it on the cloud server.

Use Cases of Blockchain for Business

Financial Services

1. Customer Validation

Know Your Customer (KYC) is a vital yet complex and long process that leaves no room for mistakes. The process involves several reviewing steps to verify whether the customer has the right background to handle large sums of money.

That is where blockchain can be a helpful technology. It makes the entire process twice easier and faster, offering higher transparency, less checking of sources of information, and, most importantly, ensuring a much better experience for customers.

2. Regulatory Reporting

One of the key issues in bank-related reporting is that the information that regulators require is dispersed across many functions, such as front-office employees and back-end systems developers. Smart contracts and the immutability of blockchain technology allow for data integrity on a single chain. 

3. Cross-Bank and Cross-Border Transfers

Sending money to another country involves multiple intermediaries while also requiring lengthy form fills and processing fees. The first bank sends a message to an intermediary bank t in another country, which should also send a verification to the receiving bank. Then the data is returned to confirm, and the transfer is made. In some cases, the process can take weeks. 

Blockchain doesn’t require all these forms and messages. It also allows for transfer only between the sender and receiver. As a result, transitions take minutes instead of weeks and don’t take fees.

Healthcare and Life Sciences

1. Drug Labeling

Maintaining labeling on drug prescriptions is a complex process. Requirements vary on several factors, including the region where the drug is marketed. In addition, lots of experts are involved in verifying aspects of the label, which makes the process long and often inaccurate. 

Blockchain ledger allows for parties involved to share data and offer an immutable view of the label. Therefore, the process becomes faster, easier, and less costly to update and maintain the drug labels.

2. Electronic Health Records

This is one of the most popular blockchain use cases. Changing doctors can be hard for patients as they have to bring their medical history repeatedly; blockchain allows them to store all this data safely and let doctors explore all the medical history before patients even enter the door.  

Blockchain’s architecture allows sharing of a patient’s electronic health records within a distributed network of providers. This helps reduce the lack of compatibility across various Electronic Health Record systems, allowing patients and permitting doctors to access their health records securely and quickly.

Retail and Consumer Products

1. Tracking Goods

Manufacturers and retailers must verify that the products they create and sell comply with the industry’s regulations. Modern consumers also prefer to know that the products they purchase are ethically sourced.

Maintaining this data and organizing a smooth sharing process between parties involves manual processes, which add costs and may cause mistakes. That is where the blockchain ledger allows a real-time, collaborative network for manufacturers, suppliers, and third-party labs to have accessible records of goods since it moves along the supply chain.

Future of Blockchain for Business

Experts believe that blockchain will become a necessary part of our future. Even though it doesn’t enter all industries yet, we see how technology transforms and evolves to bring more benefits to businesses in all sectors.

That’s what the blockchain future looks like. The labor market will grow rapidly since more and more companies will adopt blockchain. In addition, the world is focusing on scalability and security, and the decentralized nature of blockchain is the best choice.

Related: Explore blockchain in real estate tokenization 

How Can Interexy Help?

Interexy is the leading blockchain development company. We are on the list of top blockchain development providers in Dubai, Miami, and London, according to Clutch. We offer end-to-end blockchain development services, allowing clients to get the smoothest and most seamless process.

We always make sure every client can get a custom and flexible approach, providing three development models. You can delegate the entire process to our specialists, hire developers with strong blockchain expertise or get the dedicated team on board within 10 business days.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, blockchain technology has a promising future for businesses, and it’s constantly expanding. Businesses in different fields will soon adopt blockchain ledger as the foundation of their processes and seamless data sharing and transactions. Here we outlined business ideas with blockchain you can consider in 2023. If you have questions or want to discuss your blockchain integration opportunities – book a call with our experts.

FAQs

What are the potential risks and challenges of implementing blockchain technology in a business setting?

One of the main challenges associated with blockchain implementation is complexity, scalability, privacy, cybersecurity, and costs.

How to use blockchain in your business?

Blockchain can benefit many businesses. It helps drive safety, visibility, and speed in data sharing and transactions while reducing costs.