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How to Leverage Blockchain Technology for Business Growth

Blockchain is a cutting-edge, distributed ledger technology that enables businesses and individuals to transact and trade digital assists in real-time. Blockchain keeps permanent and irreversible records. Two main application of Blockchain are:

• Trading and managing Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies
• Transactions management, including:
  • Trade and eCommerce
  • Payable and receivables

The latter is known as business Blockchain. According to Business Insider, Blockchain reached $400 million with a 52% CAGR in 2019. As a result, financial institutions, including banks, make substantial efforts to develop innovative Blockchain technology solutions.

Besides, Blockchain is a database system that runs on millions of remote devices. It allows businesses to record transactions, establish identities, and validate contacts. The question is: how do you leverage this technology for your business growth? In today's article, I will answer this question. Read on!

Blockchain in Action

The Financial Services industry was the first to adopt this innovative technology. Companies in this sector focused on two crucial areas: infrastructure and cryptocurrencies. For instance, cryptocurrency applications include digital wallets, payments, and trading.

Today, businesses opt to integrate Blockchain technology to replace the decades-old infrastructure for transactions, including trading and exchanging. The purpose is to reduce risks, fraudulent activities, and costs inherent in conventional transaction management.

The primary reason you should use Blockchain technology is to eliminate redundancy in your financial operations, reduce version control problems, and mitigate delays. Here are a few tips for leveraging this technology for your business growth.

Understand Blockchain Core Capabilities

Instead of spending too much time on the technology's inner workings, I recommend focusing on Blockchain core capabilities. The purpose is to streamline your financial operations and generate higher returns on investments (ROIs). Blockchain technology for your business will enable:

Immutability to Build Trust:It means the financial records you put Blockchain are irreversible because this is a decentralized technology.So you can append to the technology but can't change the historical transactions.

Verificationof Distributed Transaction: It is crucial to understand this core capability of Blockchain technology, allowing you to verify transaction data on the ledgers without requiring a central authority or middleman.

Auditability and Automation: Because you can't tamper with the data, the technology enables fast and quick audits, providing enough evidence to monitor which party has signed the transaction. All this paves the path for automation, and you can use smart contracts specified in digital form with security protocols.

Implement a Solid Framework for Customers'Engagement

The capabilities of Blockchain technology can lead to trust, delivering transparency and audibility among your suppliers and customers. That way, you can build trust across multiple business sectors and ecosystems by engaging your customers.

However, it would help if you made this tangible using a framework or model based on your customer engagement data. Think of trust as a transaction between consumers and your company. For instance, consumers purchasing your products or services. So, there are three crucial elements:

• Institutional trust
• Calculative trust
• Relational trust

Institutional trust refers to the underlying trust in your company that your customers will comply with specific standards. Calculative trust represents the remaining trust that you will build to complete transactions. Likewise, you have to develop relational trust over time through multiple or repeated interactions between your company and customers.

Make sure you use Blockchain technology to provide third-party-verified information, leading to reduced search costs for consumers, decreased friction between your customers, and inefficiencies in the market. Remember, this is a basic idea to keep in mind when using this technology for business growth.

Understand Your Customers' Value Proposition

The most sophisticated approach to understanding your customers and their value proposition is conducting thorough research into what they expect from your company. You can do this by combining a wide range of research methods, such as:

• Academic research
• Interviews
• Observational studies
• Crowdsourcing Surveys
• High-fidelity concepts
• User testing
• Minimum viable product

It is crucial to buildinga hypothesis about your customers who will use your Blockchain framework for transactions. Focus on their problems and develop the right proposition for them. You can use the research methods given above to streamline the entire process.

You can also use an iterative approach and incorporate the feedback system to narrow down your hypothesis. But, remember, you must triangulate information to determine tangible value propositions to build a proof of concepts for testing and developing a minimum viable product.

Align Blockchain Expertise with your Business Environment

Experts recommend having expertise in Blockchain and other specific business environments. Let us give you an example: In healthcare, it is challenging to trust someone saying: "We are Blockchain" but don't have the expertise of HIPPA and other regulations.

The same principle applies to other business sectors that use Blockchain, such as border control or customs for global supply chain, FDA compliance strategies for pharmaceutical companies, or in-depth knowledge of government policies.

Therefore, it is crucial to implement the technology correctly and align it with your company's departments by removing solos and replacing intermediaries. That way, you will a practical and secure peer-to-peer network, leading to increased productivity and ROIs.

Set Up a Customized BlockChain

The approach you use must address the technology's entire lifecycle of your company's implementation and use. Therefore, I recommend setting up a customized Blockchain and integrate it through several stages.

Set up a solid proof of concept for initial testing and ROI evaluation. When you demonstrate ROIs, the next step is to engage in the iterative process for implementation. Adjust your organizational structure and train your IT department to ensure their expertise aligns with Blockchain systems and operations.

You must update your company systems to ensure you don't fall behind as this technology continues to evolve from time to time. Leverage a microservice approach to integrate your Blockchain solutions effectively. You can also use other emerging technologies, such as biometric security, artificial intelligence, and advanced analytic engines.

Final Words

Blockchain is cutting-edge technology, and many government agencies, businesses, and companies use it to improve and streamline their operations. However, because the technology continues to mature, I suggest making consistent efforts to stay competitive.

The tips and tricks given above can help you implement a sophisticated Blockchain solution in your company and streamline your business operations, leading to optimal productivity and consistent growth.

Thanks for reading,

Daniel Biocchi