- blockchain phenomenon appears to be gathering pace as we head into 2018
- With big announcements from the likes of Kodak and Microsoft, it’s clear that there are opportunities beyond finance where it has already taken a foothold
Bernard Marr , Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
The blockchain phenomenon appears to be gathering pace as we head into 2018. With big announcements from the likes of Kodak and Microsoft, it’s clear that there are opportunities beyond finance where it has already taken a foothold.
But what are the opportunities for your business? To help start to answer that question I have come up with five areas of activity where a move to distributed, encrypted record keeping could provide a competitive edge.
Reducing costs
Banks and other financial institutions such as insurers have already moved to investigate and adopt blockchain technology. Of course for them it may be a case of survival as the concept is so disruptive to their traditional business model, the danger is that if they don’t act, someone else will.
Banks and credit card companies charge around $2 trillion a year for providing middle-man services such as clearing payments and fraud-checking. Moving to blockchain systems can effectively automate much of this, bringing down costs.
But the characteristics of blockchain which make it so transformative in finance – the transparency, reduced need for trust, and robust, immutable structure of data – can help reduce financial burdens involved with making and recording transactions in many other industries, too.
If centralized, unwieldy and unsecure ledgering and inventory systems can be replaced with a streamlined, distributed blockchain system for record keeping, then there will be reduced need for middle-man functions such as administration and compliance-checking of those records.
Storing data on a blockchain also means it is more reliable. If this data is then being used in your business analytics (e.g. machine data) it is more likely to be accurate and yield insights which will align with real-world objectives.
Increasing traceability
In the food industry there is a huge demand for provenance. Demonstrating that safety and welfare standards have been met at every point of the supply chain is hugely important, for legal and business reasons.
Blockchain has been given rise to the potential of every individual ingredient or product effectively receiving its own “digital passportâ€, meaning its origin and journey can be traced at any stage of the process.
Traditionally these records will have been kept by a number of different organizations – from growers to pickers, packagers, retailers and deliverer – in a centralized fashion. This leaves multiple points of potential failure, such as data loss, and possibly invites fraudulent activity.
Blockchain has also been enthusiastically adopted by the diamond industry – where provenance is also paramount. UK-based Everledger has recorded details of more than 1.6 million of them on a blockchain, storing data such as their size, color and certificate number. High resolution imagery is used which means diamonds can still be matched to their “digital twins†on the blockchain, even if the unique identifying numbers which are invisibly etched into the stones are removed. It plans to begin doing the same with vintage wine in the near future.
Improving customer experience
Loyalty and reward programs encourage repeat custom and also give access to invaluable insights into buying habits and trends. Traditionally the data from these programs is collated centrally rewards are issued in arrears, after administration and processing.
Moving to a blockchain based system enables reward points to be calculated and issued at the point they are earned. This not only speeds things up, it potentially lets customers use the value in their purchases to receive immediate discounts.
Several startups, such as Qiibee and Loyall, have brought blockchain-based loyalty cards to the market, with the idea that it will make it easier for customers to transfer and trade the value in their freebie vouchers across different retailers. This could lead to reward and loyalty exchanges, where customers can choose to invest their earned value in what they need right now, rather than what they have previously spent money on. Overall this will lead to happier and more satisfied customers.
READ ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE:Â https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/02/07/5-blockchain-opportunities-no-company-can-afford-to-miss/#178c47b71a83
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