In our earlier article we removed the blocks around understanding what blockchain is.
Now, let’s discuss how blockchain is proving to be a boon in our day to day life. Whether you’re a common man or a celebrity, blockchain is the most secure way to conduct transactions. Especially when trust between entities is not a given, blockchain allows all parties involved to feel secure nonetheless. Bitcoin was the first real world application of blockchain, however it can assist in may other services from hospitality to healthcare, to digital art, to any industry, where there is content and IP rights are crucial.
In addition to securing transactions between people who don’t share the trust factor, blockchain enables sharing of data in an ecosystem where no single entity is exclusively incharge. So from Bollywood to builders here’s how blockchain technology is proving to be highly beneficial.
Blockchain in the supply & the distribution industry:
The supply and the distribution industry in particular can be a great example of how blockchain can help, since distribution involves following a process from one department to another. Blockchain maintains what can be compared to a smart ledger which keeps record of all processes. Sitting at a computer, everyone part of the respective supply & distribution’s blockchain can see simultaneously that where a process has worked and where a process has failed.
It provides all the parts of a respective supply & distribution network the same data. Thus, reducing data and communication errors. Each product and its ingredients are given a digital ID and can be tracked from its origin to the hands of customers. Nestle, Walmart are great examples of companies using blockchain.
Blockchain increasing efficiency of intermediaries
Companies like Ola & Uber act as aggregators , i.e. a centralised platform that connects providers of a service with customers who need that service. Blockchain technology helps aggregators to function more efficiently with blockchain-based smart contracts, where the details of the agreement between service providers and customers are recorded on a blockchain, and both parties are allowed to review their contracts at any point. Blockchain provides a secure way for providers and customers to conduct their transactions directly which leads to benefits for the service providers including more timely payments. Blockchain helps to reduce excess dependency on aggregators for the service providers, which means for example a driver doesn’t have to wait 3 months to get his fees from an aggregator company but can be paid immediately.
Blockchain usage in the film industry
The film industry is a good example of how blockchain has been of great use to production houses. According to Mohit Goel CEO and Co Founder of Metalok Solutions Pvt Ltd. ,“Lately no one talks about piracy which used to be a rampant problem due to which producers would suffer losses. Now a three hour movie frame by frame is stored in a decentralised manner across multiple servers part of that respective film’s blockchain.”
This makes tracing any attempt to hack easy. For example if anyone tries to copy the movie from one server, other servers will immediately be alerted making it impossible for anyone to hack the entire film.
Production houses are securing themselves from all kinds of data and content leaks using blockchain.
Blockchain helping builders and developers
From the stars to a more down to earth perspective of the advantage of blockchain and how builders and homeowners can benefit from it. Most of the time when people acquire possession of their flats, it’s not what was promised to them at the time of the booking. This has led to a lot of nervousness amongst potential home buyers. To solve this issue Mohit Goel CEO and Co-Founder Metalok Solutions Pvt. Ltd. has noticed this trend amongst builders of late. He says,”Many builders are showing interest in registering on a blockchain. They want to have whatever plans and designs they have created for example a 2D and 3D diagram of a flat’s plan and design registered on the blockchain. This way any 2D or 3D tampering is greatly reduced.”
Data saved by builders and developers on blockchain is good enough to win the trust of any home buyer because he can always also refer to the area map and diagrams and pay for what was promised.
Blockchain also helps to keep all property documents safe and sound which helps to keep homeowners minds at rest.
Blockchain in the Govt. sector
With the many benefits of blockchain it is not surprising that the government sector is opening up to the potential of blockchain. After all the government holds the largest record of data on each individual in their databases, making it an obvious target for hackers. Reducing this risk to such crucial data is extremely important for any government. However with blockchain, the fact that there is no risk of a single point of failure means that data is more secure and that breaches can be prevented.
Blockchain in financial sector
Blockchain was the vision of developers who believed that the current banking system had flaws. Blockchain was first developed to allow Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to operate without the need for a central authority. This not only reduces risk but also eliminates many of the processing and transaction fees.
Banks all over the world have now started investing in blockchain solutions to make their transactions more secure and efficient.
Since blockchain essentially acts as a smart ledger, it can be used for recording and storing all financial transactions without a single point of risk. The data stored in blockchain is stored over multiple servers which means even if someone tried to hack into a bank’s data it would be virtually impossible because all the servers of a respective bank’s blockchain will be alerted.
Blockchain in Healthcare
Till blockchain, the best option available to healthcare providers to store the large amounts of sensitive data and images of their patients was on cloud servers. Mohit Goel CEO and Co Founder of Metalok Solutions Pvt. Ltd. who has spent 18 years in the healthcare industry talks about how potentially problematic this can be. He says, “Imagine in a surgery the kind of images that are taken in an operation theatre for the patients well-being and future treatment. But imagine if these sensitive images which are stored on a single cloud server are leaked, wouldn’t that be such a shame for patients and doctors alike? If such an event occurs it will not be the cloud server company but the patient and the doctor who will face the negativity.”
Cloud storage services are also expensive for storing the large volumes of data most healthcare providers need to store for medical and legal purposes as well as patient welfare.
With the help of Blockchain, a universal record repository with a timestamp and a library enabled easy data extraction is possible.
Also, blockchain helps to reduce excessive dependency on cloud servers and prevents what would be any leakage of private patient information and images.
Besides all these applications Blockchain is of course already used widely in cryptocurrency and many more uses are constantly under development.