4 Reasons to Consider Blockchain in Your Business

Since the invention of bitcoin in 2009, a lot has come to light about blockchain. This is the technology behind it and the many cryptocurrencies in the market today. Technology experts evaluated blockchain and realized its power and possible uses in other areas, including streamlining business processes. Today, statistics show that 80% of the top 100 companies already use blockchain in their operations.

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

Blockchain technology has become a worthy alternative to traditional techs and a way to enhance the features and capacity of the older technologies. However, some are still fumbling over the idea and can’t decide if the technology can work in their businesses. If you’re among the latter category, this article discusses five reasons and uses cases of blockchain at the business level.

Understanding blockchain technology

Blockchain is a digital ledger where transactions are recorded and distributed on a peer-to-peer network on the chain. The technology electronically stores transactional information of various kinds without any involvement of a third party. Once recorded, these transactions are impossible to hack, alter, or manipulate the system.

"A noticeable trend recently is that people who have a business and want to use blockchain technology in it, turn to companies for money transfer app development", - says Slava Vaniukov, expert and CEO of Softermii.

Businesses can use enterprise blockchain to streamline workflows and other business processes, including handling international payments or tracking products in the supply chain. One example is PixelPlex enterprise blockchain which can help you build a market-specific decentralized app for your business.

Ultimately, a reputable developer can help evaluate your business to see the best way to utilize the technology and gain the various benefits it offers, including:

• Enhanced security due to high-level end -to end encryption preventing unauthorized access
• Higher transparency as all participants see the same transaction information
• Greater traceability 
• High transaction speed and efficiency
• Automation

Here are reasons you should consider applying blockchain technology in your business.

Preventing payment scams

One of the most common ways businesses lose money is in payment scams and chargeback fraud. Customers and vendors can purport to pay for goods or services only to reverse or stop payments once they receive the goods. Such scams can bring significant losses. 

This is a risk you can successfully avert with blockchain technology. This works through the following blockchain features:

• Smart contracts: These self-executing contracts create a sort of an escrow system that ensures both parties fulfill their roles before payment is effected. If one party fails, the transaction can’t go through. 
• Immutability: The tamper-proof transaction ledger ensures that no one manipulates records once recorded on the blockchain.
• Transparency: The transaction is visible to all participants, leaving no room for tampering behind the scenes.
• Decentralization: Blockchain has no single point of failure that can be manipulated to give any participant an upper hand over the other. 
• No third parties are involved.

While using blockchain in your business may not stop every scam, it can help you avoid payment scams at a higher level than any other technology.

Streamlined supply chain processes

Supply chain management presents many challenges due to lack of transparency, poor coordination between departments, service redundancy, and lack of reliability. However, blockchain provides better tracking through traceability, eliminating most supply chain hurdles.

In addition, the technology gives greater transparency through the ability to verify goods at any stage across the supply chain to ensure there are no issues such as fraud or interference. The technology can also be used in the hazardous material management system to monitor and manage movement and minimize risks. This happens due to the following: 

• Allowing anyone to verify the authenticity and product status in the supply chain.
• The records are in a decentralized ledger containing a transaction history, including owner, time, and dates.
• Every transaction is recorded into the block, leaving no room for human error, such as forgetting to record a significant occurrence.

Eliminating third parties

Regarding the legacy systems, you must go through a vendor to complete your transactions. It could be in payments,  document management, or other processes in your business. But, blockchain is a peer-to-peer network, meaning the transaction is only between the participants. This system improves transaction speed and is more cost-effective as you eliminate the costs and time used when you involve with intermediaries.

For instance, if your business is in the U.S, you can quickly affect or receive payment from someone in Asia without going through the bank or incurring currency fees. You eliminate third parties such as banks, lawyers, or realtors in real estate transactions. You’ll save your business from high transaction fees and time.

Having a competitive edge

Blockchain technology can give you a leg over your competitors for the reasons above and many others not discussed herein. But one of the common ways it gives you an edge is by allowing you to give your customers and vendors more options. Apart from quick and safer transactions, your business becomes more transparent, building more trust. 

Customers who are aware of the technology may feel safer transacting with your business than those not using blockchain. The business landscape has become quite competitive, and anything that can help you gain the trust of a larger market share should be worth considering. Before other businesses within your niche join in the technology, your business will have adopted, overcome implementation challenges, if any, and benefited from it. 

Takeaway

Blockchain technology is still growing, and even if you feel you can’t adopt it in your business right now, it's worth learning and familiarizing yourself with. Otherwise, you may miss on the benefits of this innovative tech as your competitors leave you far behind.