Although it may seem like a complex idea to wrap your head around, embracing the benefits that blockchain has to offer is actually simplifying the way we work.
While Bitcoin is the most recognisable proof of use case for blockchain technology, new and innovative ideas for its application propose to disrupt virtually every industry and the way we think about business. The functions blockchain allows have already become a driving force for ground-breaking business models within industries that are traditionally subject to highly-regulated governance.
In the contemporary world of e-commerce, a multitude of transactions are taking place every second, from order and payment processing to account tracking. Each stakeholder often has their own ledger and, thus, their own version of the truth. The reality for discrepancies to exist between these different ledgers has become a recipe for error, fraud, and inefficiency to occur.
Blockchain framework offers an ingenious solution to this problem. It makes use of a shared, immutable ledger for recording the history of transactions—one that cannot be altered. This is fostering a new generation of transactional applications where trust, accountability, and transparency to reign supreme when it comes to how we carry out previously manual tasks such as contracts, deeds, and payments.
Implementing blockchain technology can allow you to leverage the power of your business’ ecosystem to do things faster and vastly reduce the cost and complexity of cross-enterprise business processes. By removing the intermediary, settling transactions becomes quicker and simpler. The added ability to operate ‘smart contracts’, which automatically trigger commercial actions based on satisfying criteria laid out in the contract, can dramatically streamline processes. In doing so, you can remove the time and costs that come with traditional transactions.
Due to the distributed and shared nature of the blockchain there is no single point of failure. This makes it significantly more resilient than current systems. Due to the distributed and shared nature of the blockchain, there is no single point of failure, makes it significantly more resilient than current systems. Businesses can reap the benefits of a significant reduction in errors across orders, goods receipts, invoices and other trade-related documents thanks to the elimination of manual reconciliation. A permanent audit trail of every product’s movement or financial transaction from its primary source to its ultimate destination is visible and transparent, reducing opportunities for fraud.
A shared approach to authenticity
The shared ledger, which is distributed to all parties within the blockchain network, creates a single point of collective reference and ensures that no one person or organisation holds ownership of the system. All transactions are verified, cleared, and stored in a block that is linked to the preceding block, creating a historical chain of everything that’s been completed. Each block must refer to the previous block in order to be valid. This structure records a permanent time-stamp for each exchange of value, preventing anyone from altering the ledger and changing the “truth”.
A shared approach to authenticity
As a product makes its way through the supply chain, everyone involved in the process has access to its data. No transaction can be added to the chain without first obtaining permission from the other participants, meaning all validating parties must reach consensus before a new transaction is added to the network. As each transaction is confirmed within the network using independently verified complex cryptography, the information’s authenticity can be assured. This, in turn, renders third party intermediary monitoring and verification obsolete.
Move over, middle man. We’ve got it from here.
Walmart's Vice President of Food Safety, explains how Walmart can track food products through its supply chain using the IBM Blockchain Platform.
BANKING Bring trust, simplicity, operational efficiency and enhanced customer experience to banking and payment services |
FINANCIAL MARKETS Blockchain's shared immutable ledger can be used to track and manage every step of the financial process, no matter how big or small. |
HEALTHCARE Safely and securely store medical records and share them with authorised doctors or patients to help improve the quality of treatment. |
GOVERNMENT Embracing blockchain technology can boost efficiency and collaboration within nearly any government organisation by streamlining arduous processes. |
INSURANCE Automate transaction processing and reconciliation, help protect parties and their interests, and ensure accurate valuations for insured items. |
LOGISTICS Add greater visibility and efficiency across the entire supply chain to deliver higher value to your customers and trading relationships. |
The only fully integrated enterprise-ready blockchain platform designed to accelerate the development, governance and operation of a multi-institution business network. The IBM Blockchain Platform leverages Hyperledger Fabric to enable a new kind of distributed business network founded on the principles of finality, trust, and privacy.
Reduce development time with tools leveraging Hyperledger technologies that ensure close alignment between business leaders and developers.
Enable faster activation, customisation and ongoing management of your business network with collaborative management tools.
Meet the needs of the most demanding use cases and regulated industries with networks that are scalable, hardened, highly secure and always on.
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