The technology of the century is blockchain.

But it's one thing to state it with conviction, it's another thing to understand if there really are some Practical applications of blockchain for your business or store.

When a blockchain could improve your life

Like any techno-trend, blockchain also exerts great fascination and gives the impression of being able to solve any organizational and certification problem. There is talk of a revolution in the world of smart contracts, of NFT for the Digital Art Revolution, of disruptive applications in healthcare, as well as in supply chain and logistics...

But let's try to understand how blockchain technology works and whether the benefits can actually be applied, but above all whether they are applicable to companies of all sizes. 

What is a blockchain - simple explanation

Blockchains are lists of transactions (the “blocks”) that are linked together using cryptography (definition of Techopedia.com). 

Each block contains the transaction data and also the history of previous transactions.

Practical applications in business - an example

A supplier of your company notices that an invoice you just sent them is incorrect and reports it to you; following the report and after the appropriate checks, you issue a credit note. Finally, you issue a new invoice, and the supplier pays the invoice.

Now, every member of your office, and every member of the supplier's office will be able to see in a sort of ledger this final payment, which will appear in a similar form:

February 1st - invoice issued - amount xy / February 5th - disputed invoice / February 7th - credit note and new invoice issued / TODAY payment made - amount xyz.

What Makes a Blockchain Secure for a Business

In the example above, what you saw is a string of text on a blog page. 

In reality, blocks come in a slightly different form: they are alphanumeric strings (“hashes”) “created” by a very complex and practically impenetrable encryption algorithm. 

Last feature: you can choose to have each transaction approved by a certain number of people in the blockchain network (the “nodes”).

Practical applications of blockchain in business

The advantages of blockchain are mainly:

1. Immutability of the “blocks”, that is, the individual actions performed by those who interact in the blockchain;
2. Block traceability: individual actions are visible to everyone, at any time, in their precise chronological sequence;
3. Security: The distributed nature of blockchains makes it harder for hackers to access the system. There is no central point that is vulnerable to attack.
4. No need for a central server: the “ledger” containing the list of all transactions can also be used in a peer-to-peer system, because the guarantee of reliability lies in the technology itself.

Based on these characteristics and looking at the US market - the most advanced in terms of blockchain applications, we have isolated 3 main uses of this revolutionary technology in the company:

1. Share sensitive data more securely

Some startups and companies in the medical and biomedical sector are doing it, such as the London-based Medicalchain and the American Anthem Inc. The need to share - safe from fraud and hacking - a large amount of private data is an everyday issue, in a corporate world that is becoming increasingly cloud-based.

1. Simplify accounting and transactions

Blockchain technology was born for Bitcoin, and several financial institutions are developing it to improve transactions within them. In this case, it is a private blockchain and not public, therefore not accessible to anyone.

Nothing prevents that, with the appropriate evaluations, even a small and medium-sized company can adopt management systems that include a secure and blockchain-guaranteed transaction verification system.

1. Improving the supply chain

By putting a supply chain on blockchain, transactions and payments are made irrefutable. But also, it is possible to trace the supply of each individual component of a finished product: this makes it easier to find the supply of a single piece, especially in the event of changes in the company's workforce, data loss, or problems with a specific component in a product purchased as finished.

All excellent solutions, and not so far from the most interesting objective, that is, the management software for medium-sized businesses: just understand what your needs are, and evaluate whether the investment is worth the indisputable advantages that blockchain offers.