Learning the top 10 ways blockchain technology can improve your business is a no-brainer. This game-changing tech has already helped thousands of businesses save money and improve their ROIs. Blockchains come in many forms and finding the right fit for your business can take some research.

Thankfully, there are a lot of options available. Today, there are proprietary-built networks to serve nearly every industry. There are even blockchains that exist soley to streamline the creation of more blockchains.

All of this growth in the sector means that businesses can integrate blockchain technology faster and for far less than years prior. Consequently, corporate blockchain adoption is on the rise. Here are the top 10 ways blockchain integration can improve your business.

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1. Improve Efficiency

Blockchain technology can help your business cut costs across the board. Blockchains have come a long way from the early days of Bitcoin. Today’s networks are fully programmable using smart contracts.

Smart contracts can replicate the actions of a human in business, such as approving payments or releasing rewards or documentation. Since these protocols live on the blockchain, they never make mistakes and can be confirmed in real-time by users.

The concept of replacing business personnel with smart contracts has expanded over the years. Today, DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) are the culmination of these efforts. These decentralized communities vote via staking protocols to guide the direction of a project.

DAOs are a great way to get real-time community input. As such, they remain a popular option in the DeFI market. If you want to give your community a voice, a DAO could be a great way to accomplish this task. Best of all, you can save on all the personnel that smart contracts eliminate.

2. Lower Transfer Costs

It can be expensive to transfer funding globally. On average, it costs 7-12% to send money internationally. The majority of these fees go to the network of payment processors, banks, regulators, and more that are required to send the funds.

Blockchain networks permit the direct transfer of value internationally in seconds. These systems can reduce the costs of sending money and converting it to other currencies. The demand for these services has grown, with networks like Stellar and Ripple offering money transfer services to banks and corporations.

Blockchain networks can operate in a permissionless and censorship-resistant manner, which makes them ideal for sending funding globally. For businesses that have offices located in different countries, this solution can save your firm funding and time.

A lot of people don’t think about the delay it takes to send fiat currency globally. Depending on the amount, transfers can take days. These problems can result in missed opportunities and other issues for business owners. The best alternative is to integrate a blockchain transfer solution and avoid delays.

3. Improve Trackability

Tracking is crucial to the success of your business. When you’re tracking products, marketing campaigns, or even employees, it can be confusing. However, the better you can accomplish this task, the more reliable your business will run.

There are several ways to improve your tracking model by leveraging blockchain technology. Blockchain logistic platforms offer simple integration and a flexible structure that enables you to incorporate other technologies to improve results.

For example, you could use NFC (Near-Field Communications) and IoT (Internet of Things) tech to track the state and location of products from manufacturing to customers and beyond. These solutions are low-cost and readily available, which makes them a smart solution to logistic woes.

You can also use blockchain tech to keep records safe. Governments worldwide have already noted the efficiency of these protocols for keeping track of deeds and other records. The immutable nature and low cost of operation make blockchain a better solution than the current paper/digital systems used in most places around the world.

4. Improve Validation

Blockchains provide a low-cost way for you to validate documents, assets, and even personnel. Blockchain identification systems are already in place in many corporations to help reduce fraud and theft.

Blockchain validation systems tokenize assets so that they can be referenced on the blockchain and monitored in real-time. The immutable nature of these networks and their low-cost data retrieval option make them a better choice than the standard quo.

Blockchain ID systems are another sector that has seen growth in the enterprise sector. There are blockchain ID systems that work for individuals and even other hardware. These platforms ensure that only approved users gain access to restricted data.

Blockchain validation systems could also be used to improve business voting systems. These systems offer the advantage of real-time consensus versus counting ballots. Additionally, all votes are fully transparent and able to be viewed by all approved parties without delay.

5. Build Reserves

One of the easiest ways to enhance your business system is to leverage blockchain assets to improve your company’s reserves. Firms like Microstrategy have entered the crypto market with this goal in mind.

Notably, Bitcoin remains the primary way that firms that are not blockchain-related build reserves in the market. The world’s first cryptocurrency continues to outpace other assets in terms of ROIs and market growth. As such, more businesses are adding Bitcoin to their reserve sheets.

Even governments are now seeking to build up their crypto reserves. Countries like El Salvador have even gone as far as to make the coin legal tender. This designation means that Bitcoin can be used to pay all government fees, fines, and at all consumer locations.

The main thing to consider when adding Bitcoin reserves to your business sheet is that you don’t have to go all in from day one. DCA (dollar cost averaging) is a popular way to slowly build up crypto reserves over time. It requires you to consistently make purchases over weeks and months to get the best overall price.

6. Improve Customer Interaction

There are several ways that blockchains can help you improve your customer interaction and retention. NFTs (non-fungible tokens) provide many unique ways to connect and offer value to customers.

NFTs are unique tokens. They can be released in sets or be individual assets with unique characteristics. This structure means that they can be used in a couple of cool ways to drive business.

One of the most popular ways to use NFTs to drive business is to host a raffle. Each token represents a unique entry. Best of all, since everything is on the blockchain, it’s transparent and efficient.

Another method is to issue commemorative collectibles to your clients. A prime example of this strategy in use in the market today is NBA Top Shot. This massive basketball sports memorabilia NFT trading platform has sold millions in digital assets to fans.

These digital assets range in price from pennies to hundreds of thousands of dollars. In one instance, a Lebron James NFT sold for +$400K. Your business may not have the same loyal customer base as the NBA, but you can still provide them with similar interactions.

7. Lower Costs for Customers

Blockchain tech can lower your business operating costs, and it’s also a great way to offer your clients some price relief. Integrating cryptocurrencies can help to lower purchase fees on items. It can also reduce processing charges for your clients.

You can use blockchain strategies to ensure that your clients can access vital data directly, securely, and efficiently. Blockchain explorers offer free network monitoring and enable users to pull up information in a few clicks. This is a much better solution than calling a company and waiting on hold.

You can also lower costs to your clients by providing them with more valuable assets. For example, the gaming industry has embraced blockchain technology for many reasons. One reason is that they can now charge more for ingame assets because users can resell them on secondary markets.

This approach makes sense for both parties involved. Also, developers can create more usable and valuable assets that can operate in multiple virtual ecosystems. Users can then choose to sell or trade their assets for others when they are ready to move on to the next title.

8. Improve Security

Blockchain technology offers multiple ways to improve security for your business. In a  legacy system, if you are hacked, you may not know for months. Additionally, you have no idea what they accessed or altered.

Blockchain networks can be set up to show these details. When coupled with other tech like AI, cues can set off alarm bells whenever there is a breach of security. Best of all, blockchains can see what was altered, when, and by whom. As such, your business can limit the damage following a hack.

Blockchain networks like Ethereum and Bitcoin have been in operation for over a decade. They have never been successfully hacked directly and handle millions of transactions daily. Notably, blockchain security continues to improve and today’s networks and consensus mechanisms are built to withstand a variety of common attacks.

Consensus mechanisms are the protocols that keep blockchains secure. They come in many different styles to meet your needs. Notably, each has its benefits and restrictions. For example, a PoW network is very stable and secure. It requires a person to hack 51% of the network nodes to alter data.

Comparably, a DPoS (Delegated Proof of Stake) network reduces the number of verifications and nodes to a minimum to improve performance using vetted nodes. Finding the balance that best fits your security needs is a vital step in the blockchain integration process.

9. Improve Hiring Procedures

More businesses than ever are turning to blockchain verification systems to ensure the people they bring on as staff are who they claim. Blockchain verification systems benefit both employers and employees. They serve the vital purpose of ensuring that all documentation is accurate and legitimate.

Sadly, most businesses don’t have the time or manpower to verify all documentation presented to them during the employment process. As such, it’s common to see errors or fabrications become a driving factor for the hiring of a particular individual. Blockchain systems can help ensure all hiring information is accurate.

This documentation can include academic records, extracurricular activities, past employment records, references, and more. Employees or organizations can tokenize this data to make it readily available for anyone seeking validation. For professional services, this feature is a great way to reduce bad hiring.

Many firms now offer these services to employees and businesses. Businesses leverage these platforms to find vetted talent. In most instances, the platform will charge a small fee to the business or user to cover operating costs. It’s worth your time to review blockchain-powered freelance markets that link talent with businesses.

10. Get Creative

The nature of blockchain technology means that you can leverage it to make your business model more creative. Businesses are always looking towards dapps and tokens to improve interactions. These maneuvers are just the beginning of what will be a major blockchain movement.

Remember, it has only been 15 years since Bitcoin entered the market. In that time, the blockchain market has gone from cryptocurrencies being used as digital cash, to custom-built networks for nearly any cause. This innovation is the tip of the iceberg, and your creativity will drive the next blockchain sector.

One of the best ways to share your creative juices with the blockchain community is on social media. There are lots of cool groups and channels to follow that will inspire you to think of new and innovative ways to drive businesses using blockchain tech.

Tags: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Insights