Blockchain technology is conquering the world. Every business is looking at the endless possibilities this new approach can offer. From quick and painless financial transactions to high-quality encryption and third-party elimination, blockchain is changing the business as we know it.
Today, we are taking a deeper look at the blockchain solutions for enterprises, and how they can improve operations while increasing the profit.
1. Financial Services
Just a couple years ago, blockchain activity started advancing through PoCs, pilots, and testing. Many respectable banks, such as JP Morgan and Citibank, as well as Visa and MasterCard started turning toward blockchain technologies. Specialists have been hired to explore the numerous possibilities.
For example, JPMorgan has an internal blockchain team of specialists, as well as its own infrastructure, Quorum, which is based on Ethereum. Quorum is designed to facilitate financial transactions.
American Express has created a new client reward program, which exploits blockchain for keeping records and uses cryptocurrencies for paying out the reward points.
Less than a year ago, Visa launched its blockchain-based b2b payment service solution called B2B connect. MasterCard uses blockchain to speed up the paying processing for merchants. It also employs blockchain to store payment histories between sellers and buyers.
2. Automotive Services
Automobile manufacturers are taking advantage of the blockchain system by implementing ride sharing, AVs (autonomous vehicle), electrification, and more. The blockchain may be the key to the reinvention of mobility.
Volkswagen and Renault test vehicle telematics tracking and store all the important information using blockchain. Such approach allows all the interested parties, such as dealers, buyers, insurance agents, and more to have access to the vehicle’s activity. Blockchain eliminates the illegal mileage manipulation completely.
Toyota has created a blockchain-based exchange to facilitate the sales of the AV driving data. The carmakers buy the data from the car owners and use it to perfect the autonomous machine learning algorithms. In turn, car owners use the money to pay for car-related expenses. Toyota is also considering the creation of the blockchain-powered car-sharing platform.
Daimler has invested a substantial amount into blockchain research and development. It tests the blockchain for bond issuance and funds various research.
3. Retail Industry
Retail industry players are taking full advantage of the blockchain technologies. For example, Walmart is thinking about using blockchain to track the pork it sells from China to the stores.
A famous e-store Alibaba is working on the private blockchain network, which can track the authenticity of the product in the supply chain, thus reducing the chance of forgery.
De Beers is investing on a blockchain-powered diamond-tracking platform, which can improve the supply chain transparency.
The Key Challenge
The key challenge of coming up with blockchain solutions for enterprises is the lack of knowledge and testing. Blockchain solutions are still very young. Most of them are unready for wide use, especially when it comes to global commercial implementation.
The security and the transparency of the financial transaction are based on the user and developer skills, which are often lacking. The internal blockchain knowledge is not on a high level just yet, leading to delays and uncertainties.
Even when technical difficulties are dealt with, the enterprises will face slow transactions and questions with privacy, which may arise by eliminating the third parties from the databases and processes.
Many industries are limited by rules and regulations. For example, financial and healthcare services need to be very careful about adopting blockchain technologies since they may not comply with the strict laws. Due to the lack of experience, many large companies are hesitant about adopting blockchain-powered services even when they seem to be the best solution available.
