How is Blockchain redefining technology for the enterprise world?

Blockchain! Did you just link it to cryptocurrency and bitcoin? You are not wrong, but that’s just one drop in the ocean. Blockchain has outgrown its original purpose of powering cryptocurrencies and evolved as an enterprise-grade technology, redefining what technology can offer to the enterprise world. Blockchain is potentially reforming key areas that are trust, security, and compliance. These three areas are critical for any business, and every technology strives to provide solutions around them. With Blockchain, finally, there is a technology with a DNA of security inherently embedded into it. Before understanding how Blockchain is a better and more secure technology for the business world, let’s understand how Blockchain manifests as an enterprise-grade technology:

Blockchain as an enterprise-grade technology

The science of Blockchain

Blockchain is a peer-to-peer network managed by nodes- the peers. It is impossible to add, delete, tamper or alter data on a blockchain without the knowledge and consent of the nodes involved. Each Blockchain is ruled by a consensus mechanism, which defines how the nodes will participate in validating the data before it gets stored in the Blockchain. For instance, if the Blockchain adopts the proof-of-stake consensus, then the nodes/peers will stake a certain amount of their tokens to participate as validators. The validators are chosen randomly, then they validate the data. Once validated, the data is added to the Blockchain as a block with the timestamp.

Once on the Blockchain, the data becomes immutable. It can’t be deleted or tampered with. If the data needs to be corrected, the new data will not replace the old data but will get added as new data in chronological order. So there is always transparency around the data with proper time stamping. This makes Blockchain a highly secure and transparent database for managing cross-organizational records.

Smart contract

Blockchain is useful as an enterprise-grade technology because of the programmability of smart contracts. Smart contracts are self-executing contracts coded on the Blockchain. Smart contracts can define business logic and establish them as conditions. When these pre-defined conditions are met, the smart contracts get executed automatically without involving any of their party. So smart contracts take away the need to trust any third party or legal mechanism. It’s an unbiased mathematical algorithm that controls cross-organizational business conditions.

dApps

With smart contracts at the backend and a user interface developed in the front end, Blockchain is leveraged to build enterprise-grade decentralized applications or dApps. dApps, extend the functionality of Blockchain into real-world use cases such as supply chain, payments, gaming, voting, trade, and commerce. The dApps also help enhance the mass adoption of Blockchain. But the market of dApps is yet at a growing phase and has many limitations that need to be overcome.

One of the limitations is the poor onboarding experience. Onboarding into a dApp can get very taxing, with complicity around key management, seed phrases, and wallet extensions. This deters the mass adoption of dapps and Blockchain also. NamaChain is building solutions and products to simplify onboarding into dApps. At the core of all NamaChain products is its disruptive key management.

Now, let’s understand why Blockchain is a better technology for various enterprise use cases.

Why is Blockchain an improved technology for the enterprise world?

Decentralized design

In the age where data is the most valuable corporate asset, Blockchain is a complete paradigm shift. Where organizations have historically acquired and centralized data for maximum control, Blockchain is entirely decentralized, running on a peer-to-peer network that (in the case of a public deployment) no one controls.

If nothing else, this change requires a significant change of mindset. Rather than specifying hardware optimized for databases, systems must instead be GPU-focused to support the processing requirements of the Blockchain. IT decision-makers will need to cede some degree of control in order to retain control.

Blockchain has already developed beyond ‘basic’ distributed ledgers to include contracts, supply chain management, invoicing and payments, inventory management, quality control, and more. As the technology matures, expect to see the development of more Dapps (decentralized apps) that take advantage of the new, blockchain-driven decentralized network model.

Stronger security

Defending corporate systems against cybercriminals continues to be a major undertaking. Hackers will always be interested in company databases – either to steal data for profit, or corrupting records to cause financial harm.

Because the Blockchain is distributed and replicated, damage to one node will have no effect on data integrity. Similarly, corrupting one transaction requires hackers to compromise every block that precedes it in the chain – on every node on the p2p network.

There will always be a responsibility for protecting blockchain nodes controlled by the business, but the rest of the network offers strong protection against criminality. And because the Blockchain is always available, it is also more resilient against outage and disruption.

Improved compliance

Data protection laws worldwide are being reviewed and strengthened to deal with increased security threats and better protect citizens’ rights in the age of machine learning and AI. Legislators and businesses are facing an impasse. New laws are increasingly focused on limiting data sharing and transfer between businesses, while the industry is looking at how to better share information to improve the products and services they offer to clients.

Blockchain is helping to solve this problem too. Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) gives individuals greater control over their personal information, allowing them to determine how their data is shared and with whom. Specific, anonymized details can be shared with partners without exposing the individual’s identity. Better still, blockchain technologies can automatically maintain a complete audit trail of these activities – useful evidence in the event of a compliance investigation.

At the same time, businesses will be able to bypass third-party ‘brokers,’ allowing them to verify identity reliably and securely. As well as increasing efficiency and reducing costs, there will also be a corresponding reduction in infrastructure complexity with no need to route through secondary gateways or APIs. Given that the ID verification market is expected to be worth $21.9bn by 2026, there are significant savings to be made using Blockchain.

Endnote

Blockchain itself as technology is inherently secure and hackproof like no other technology. But instances of security breaches related to blockchain applications and platforms that are heard now and then are mainly because of the gaps in the implementation of blockchain technology. By improving on key management, the landscape can be transformed altogether. This will also help propel the Web3 landscape and attract mass adoption. The initial key focus should be better UX in dApps, simplified key management, and compromised security. NamaChain initiatives drive on these key pillars to make the Blockchain and Web3 landscape more relevant to the real enterprise world.