The blockchain revolution has made its way, and it’s only the beginning of what’s possible. The open ledger has a significant amount of potential to store and manage transactions. Today millions of bits of data are stored on every public blockchain. Its potential value is immense. The applications of blockchain are growing.
Now tell me what is at the heart of the current digital revolution? Data and lots and lots of data. With the emerging innovations like wearables, GPS and industrial sensors, tons of data seem to be generated, organised and analysed like never before. And you know that there’s so much that could be done with that data, for example, prevent nefarious user behavior — things like piracy or drug trafficking.
Being revolutionary and transformative, the technology keeps a permanent record of all transactions that take place across a decentralised network. And you what’s the most exciting part, it even allows market participants to conduct transactions without the need for a centralised third party. In simple words, the tech will enable one to be safe, reliable, and transparent and of course, it is long lasting.
However, there was a time when blockchain was considered to be volatile and unreliable. With the constant change, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies started featuring the exceptional power- which means it can change the entire method through which one pays for goods and services. Although, it was initially used as a highly speculative investment. But not anymore!
But is There Anything beyond cryptocurrency in blockchain?
See also: Five blockchain use cases: from property to sustainability
Down below I would like to mention a few applications of blockchain.
Applications of blockchain, number one: Supply Chain Management — One of the best example to consider when it comes to blockchain adoption. Often regarded as complex, unreliable and challenging, the supply chain is a reliable source when merged with the blockchain technology. With every transaction, the chain is entered and verified without any disruption or interruption. Being recorded every step of the way, the chain of ownership can never be altered or changed. The transparent supply chain, in particular, seems like an asset!
Image Credit: Blockchainonsupplychain
Let’s take an example of the airline industry, at present it can connect into that ecosystem. As a result, efficient requisition of parts, understanding the actual physical condition of the parts, and knowing exactly who serviced the parts and when they were serviced becomes easily accessible like never before. You can even share these information to get a better understanding of how they perform.
Blockchain and privacy: Can a form of distributed ledger solve the problem of privacy?
Applications of blockchain number two: Identify Management — With a plethora of applications, blockchain plays a vital role in identity management. I am sure many of you have this fear of sharing your impersonal information online in a single chain. Reality check, you as an individual have no control over how much information will be offered to each entity.
Have you ever migrated from one state to another on a recent basis? If so, I am sure your next step will be to apply for a driver’s license. By using the tech, an accurate record of the individual’s past can be received. And yes, this also includes their driving record.
“With blockchain, you can choose to become the owner of your own data,” Gone are the days when organisations required collecting and storing every identity data attribute. Here everyone has the fair chance to choose which identity data attributes they wish to share with each organisation.
Blockchain “game changer” developed by Accenture
Applications of blockchain number three: Verification of Financial Transactions – After the emergence of modern enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, businesses have started growing towards perfection. Whether it’s finance, accounting, supply chain management or human resource, ERP helps organizations to top the game. However, there are times when data stored in individual ERP systems frequently gets out of sync, creating complications when trying to reconcile accounts. Well, this does not mean blockchain needs to be replaced by ERP but it can serve as a complement to, and a core component of the same. If we look into the crystal ball to know what the future holds for us — many core business processes will run on – or interoperate with – blockchain-based systems. Operations will be more streamlined; data sharing will be facilitated leading to improvement in data integrity.
Blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) faces a big data challenge
Emerging ‘BaaS’ industry can’t become a soaraway success without solving the data capacity problem
Blockchain with Other Tech
With the Internet of Things – By merging blockchain with IoT means you will be receiving verifiable, secure and permanent method of recording data which is processed by any smart device. Right from cars to buildings, doorbells, refrigerators, everything seems to be connected with the help of software, network connectivity, and sensors. As a result, many security concerns are raised as hackers can easily get access to any of your devices, let’s say your car. With blockchain, one can address these critical security concerns in prior as the tech can quickly decentralise all the information.
With Big data – One of the biggest reasons data structure seems to be proven to be sound, but unfortunately, hasn’t offered obvious utility. But that will change soon. The data is there — it’s there to be used, and it’s there to be experimented with. So get ready to discover the untapped gold mine.
Author Bio: Vikash Kumar is a manager at an Offshore Software development company Tatvasoft.com. Besides his profession he likes to share ideas on different topics likes Machine Learning, Big Data and many other. He also published his bylines on SAP blog, ReadWrite, Entrepreneur and many other big publications.
