How Will Blockchains Change Organizations

Blockchain technology has been a buzzword since 2017.

While it’s true that those who may not have heard about blockchain before 2017 were only then made aware of this intriguing technology, blockchain was present in varying research material before that.

Now, different organizations are seeking to make it more practical and potentially commercialize the technology. From IBM to Microsoft, and from Oracle to Ford, some of the biggest companies in the world have been exploring blockchain and its effectiveness in their respective industries in some form or fashion.

Here are a few ways of how blockchain technology is going to change organizations and industries.

Shipping Industry

In early 2018, IBM and shipping giant Maersk were interested in partnering to launch a global shipping and supply chain blockchain network.

Dubbed as TradeLens, the blockchain network went on to sign more than 92 participants and moved from beta testing to early adoption in October 2018. That was around the same time when it had completed around 154 million shipping events across the globe.

IBM states “New participants are onboarding to TradeLens because they are eager to take advantage of benefits such as reduced paperwork, more efficient processes, and improved trust and transparency with trading partners. By digitizing supply chains, trading partners can collaborate seamlessly through a unified, shared view of transaction data secured by state-of-the-art encryption.”

Food Supply Chain

Another supply chain project is FoodTrust. FoodTrust is a blockchain network that focuses on the food industry and brings food safety and supply chain efficiency to the industry.

Commercially available since October 2018, the platform has been redefining how our food leaves a distant farm and gets to our plate in the city – which in some cases could be hundreds or even thousands of miles away.

Using blockchain technology, the platform ensures transparency through every step of the food supply chain. With growing user adoption and a massive user base behind it that includes Walmart, the platform has been able to reduce the time of tracking a food source from 7 days to 2.2 seconds.

Stats as impressive as that indicate that we may soon see bigger and better blockchain solutions coming from the food and supply chain industry.

Social Media and Instant Messaging

Telegram ventured into the cryptocurrency space in 2018, where it used its status as one of the world’s most popular instant messaging app to push its own digital currency. When launched, Telegram’s cryptocurrency is going to allow users to transfer funds right from their instant messaging interface.

Facebook has similar plans with WhatsApp, which is also one of the most famous apps in the history of mobile devices and considered a rival to Telegram. The social media giant plans to use the platform to bring its own cryptocurrency into the sector, which would allow people to instantly transfer funds to each other right through their messaging interface.

With real plans that are quite close to implementation, social media may see more blockchain based integration in the near future .

These are just a few examples of the many industries that blockchain technology is about to change. From automobile to entertainment, and from banking to e-commerce, the technology is definitely on a mission to incrementally improve the world for the better.