If you’ve done your fair bit of research and are aware of current affairs, it would be clear that blockchain has gone big. It’s the next big step in technology that works by introducing a virtually incorruptible digital ledger to do just about anything, whether it is related to economics, healthcare, education or cloud computing services.
Blockchain has become so important that overzealous entrepreneurs are projecting ridiculous (but plausible) uses for it, from storing loyalty points to buying overpriced virtual cats, to making your own cup of tea. With blockchain as long as you envision an idea and have the required skill set to execute it, you can bulldoze your way through market barriers and upset giants of your target industry.
As part of the team at Global IT Services, our blockchain consultants have worked with exciting businesses across the world using blockchain technology to solve unique problems such as elaborate recruitment strategies, staff augmentation and installing centralized systems in the healthcare industry.
What we’ve found is that the applicability of blockchain is virtually endless, and almost new instance of blockchain tech find new solutions to solve older problems that, up until the advent of blockchain was not possible by any stretch of the imagination. We’ve listed some of the most useful uses down below:-
Storing Medical Records
Medical providers have long struggled with the challenge of adequately storing and archiving patient records. It’s hard on the resources, and the process can slow down to a painful crawl at times, making it a struggle. The three biggest obstacles to effective patient record management are record accessibility, protecting the rights of patients by keeping data confidential and maintaining the data’s trustworthiness and integrity.
Blockchain technology addresses all three points and depending on which blockchain consultants you’re working with, to the point of non-existence. Setting up a decentralized virtual database allows all authorized parties such as healthcare providers, patients, and insurance carriers to seamlessly collaborate on a common cause.
Perhaps more useful to all parties is the minimal role played by intermediates to help push down the cost of doing everyday business.
Education Records
The same standards required to maintain privacy of patient credentials apply to education. A blockchain based ledger will store student records such as test scores, degrees, digital transcripts and the number of courses completed. This system will allow students and teachers alike to access these records whenever they want, with the highest degree of accuracy. Any changes will be made in real time, and all authorized personnel will be notified of it.
Taking things one step forward, we can even analyze the data to see if any possible improvements could be made to our educational institutions.
Did you know that every 1 in 7 people worldwide are unable to prove their identity; this means they could just as easily lose access to all their transcripts and degrees? Blockchain can help students gain access to their educational records by using their private key or a USB drive. This solves the monumental challenge of lack of documentation in many parts of the world.
Fintech
Fintech is short for financial technologies and is commonly employed by banks to make everyday financial transactions more efficient to their consumers. Blockchain has a major role to play in Fintech industries by providing a trustworthy ledger that can facilitate financial transactions.
A good example to learn from is TransferWise, which uses blockchain to send international exchange currencies with a pricing level that is only 10% what is charged by banks. Fintech services can also find great use in fundraising organizations and departments to receive donations and track where the money is coming from.
In short, when you combine blockchain with Fintech services, you make the global economy substantially more efficient and cheaper.
Food Supply Chains
Blockchain can improve the quality of food products by providing access to authentic information to authorized parties including producers, consumers regulation agencies, distributors, suppliers and other incumbents. Producers are particularly at risk of being fined by regulatory bodies if and when flaws in their product are found.
Blockchain ledgers help producers stay on top of any alterations made to their product without their knowledge. When changes are made, whether by human error or deliberation, all parties with access to the digital ledger are notified of the change.
This brings us to another important topic: transparency. Companies that utilize blockchain technology for promoting ethical practices can build trust with their customers and experience voluminous sales as a result. Blockchain technology makes it impossible to tamper with data, forcing companies to adopt more responsible practices such as minimizing instances of pollution and the manufacture of products with subpar quality.
Cybersecurity
It is easy for customer data to get stolen from companies almost every other day. As new innovations are made in technology, it becomes easier for cyber criminals to break into security systems. This is where blockchain technology can make a difference by being impossible to hack into, making the digital space invulnerable to security threats.
Blockchain works by making it impossible for hackers to access someone’s information using only passwords, which can be figured out relatively easily. Even if the security of a single computer was compromised, hackers will not be able to tamper data because the digital information is not contained in any one central location. The data is decentralized and spread across peer to peer networks that are constantly synchronized and updated.
Traditional networks keep all their data in a single repository, making it easy for hackers to compromise a few flaws in security and break in. With blockchain, you might get a hold of a single “block”, but you wouldn’t know what to do with it unless you gain access to the stream of blocks before and after it.
Making things even more difficult is that all authorized personnel save their files using a cryptographic signature of a document or file. This guarantees that the data is not tampered with because when someone does change a record, signature is rendered invalid.
If someone managed to bypass the security challenges placed along the way, the decentralized ledger will track the origins of the hack and any tampers that were made. This will inevitably lead back to the criminal who originally hacked into the system.
