Engineering trust in the digital age: how blockchain is transforming business

At its heart, blockchain technology provides the framework to reshape the way companies do business. Hailed as the technological bedrock of the next great industrial revolution, blockchain enables the trust, scalability and stability required for the ongoing digital transformation, where everything in the digital space – from financial services to healthcare, from supply chains to digital identity – is interconnected.

Improve your company’s reputation by building trust

In fact, blockchain’s utility extends far beyond acting as a digital ledger that records cryptocurrency transactions.

The transparency and immutability of blockchain technology can help boost corporate reputation, helping companies build trust with their customers by enabling secure and tamper-proof data sharing. For example, a company can use blockchain to prove the authenticity and traceability of their products, which can help build brand trust and promote increased customer loyalty.

IBM has been involved in helping enterprise customers improve transparency and trace the origin of data with blockchain for nearly a decade. Recently, the company has partnered with Gate2Chain, a promising Spanish startup to develop Trace – a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform for manufacturers and retailers.

Trace makes it possible to connect each product to its tokenized digital twin from the moment a new product is manufactured and registered. Digital twins can store events, provenance, ownership or other valuable information, thus becoming a product’s digital certificate.

“We’re just at the point now where businesses and organizations are starting to realize the value that blockchain brings directly to their customers,” says Dr Agata Slater, IBM’s blockchain practice leader for Central and Eastern Europe.

“Blockchain technology can help bring more transparency to data exchange, while helping users retain control of their personal data and creating a fairer economy,” says Dr Slater, who notes that blockchain levels the playing field in the data economy.

“More and more people are realizing that the current model of the internet – centralized, monolithic and dominated by the ‘winner takes all’ model – is fundamentally flawed. At the same time, internet users are becoming more and more aware of what happens to their personal data and how they are used, says Dr Slater.

Cheaper, safer and more efficient

Blockchain technology can reduce costs and increase efficiency in a range of industries by eliminating the need for intermediaries and automating previously manual processes.

“The DNA of blockchain is efficiency. Blockchain helps drive efficiencies in both operations and fixed costs by helping to reduce the number of intermediaries required to carry out complex business processes,” said Christen Ager-Hanssen, CEO of nChain, a global Web3- technology company providing solutions for governments and businesses, including central bank digital currencies (CBDC), nanopayments and more.

“When you increase the number of steps and stakeholders across your business, you not only introduce unnecessary complexity and inefficiency, but you also incur additional costs,” adds Ager-Hanssen.

Ultimately, businesses can use blockchain to streamline their supply chain and remove middlemen, resulting in reduced costs and increased efficiency across the board.

Future-proof business with compliance with regulations

As blockchain technology is adopted by more and more businesses across a range of industries, policy makers are now beginning to adopt laws and regulations to protect consumers – exemplified by the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation.

Regulation of innovative technology helps to strengthen its usefulness, future-proof its effectiveness and increase its use by previously hesitant market participants.

“Governments and regulatory bodies play a crucial role in the adoption of blockchain technology by shaping the legal and policy framework that supports its growth and integration in various sectors,” notes Dr Slater, adding that regulation of blockchain technology will help clean up its negatives image. in the eyes of some – one largely caused by a small handful of ill-conceived but widely publicized projects.

“Considering other emerging technologies, such as AI, there is a growing need to ensure accountability to protect users as they become widely adopted. More and more companies are now concerned with future-proofing their software, tools and solutions, to be sure that they will not have problems afterwards, says Ager-Hanssen, adding that compliance with regulations does not have to compromise data integrity. or the user’s privacy.

Both Dr Agata Slater and Christen Ager-Hanssen will speak at the first London Blockchain Conference between 31 May and 2 June.

Register for free and attend the London Blockchain Conference here