What is Blockchain? The $20 Billion Market

Distributed Information and Security

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What is Blockchain?
Unified Communications

Published: June 1, 2019

Ian Taylor Editor

Ian Taylor

Editor

Blockchain is a technology frequently associated with Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. However, the two concepts don’t have to go hand-in-hand. In reality, blockchain is simply a solution that stores encoded information across a network of distributed computers, eliminating the need for a single intermediary. When everyone has equal access to information, it’s harder to tamper with or corrupt records. Everyone in the chain would be able to see who made changes to the data.

Blockchain technology has the potential to improve compliance and security in business environments around the world. When used in a communication environment, it can deliver better trust among companies and customers. Blockchain can also support easier tracking of crucial information.

What is Blockchain?

Data is everywhere in today’s digital world. Usually, when we collect and store data, we place the information into an environment that’s owned and managed by an individual organisation. Whether the database lives on one server or multiple, it’s tied to a specific owner. Blockchain takes a different approach to data management, by spreading information across the computers that belong to anyone in the blockchain.

So, what does blockchain mean to the communication industry? On the one hand, it could open up new opportunities for genuine omnichannel communications. Stitching together pieces of a cohesive conversation across multiple channels can be complicated. However, with a blockchain environment, it’s possible to store and preserve information about a client, regardless of where they interact with a brand. Ordered blocks are an excellent way to connect the various parts of an omnichannel conversation. What’s more, in the GDPR world, they’d make it easy to find and remove blocks of information that are problematic for compliance purposes.

Blockchain also has potential in the unambiguous identification world. Few businesses have solved the identification problem completely, even with ID cards and passwords. Customer communication is hampered at times because it’s difficult to know whether your email or SMS is going to the right person. Through ideas implement by blockchain, it’s possible to create unambiguous digital identities that reduce the risk of fraud.

Information gathered in a blockchain system may even provide useful guidance to AI devices used to drive automated responses to customer service issues. An AI could search through a chain to find contextual information and initiate the next part of the service strategy without human interaction. It’s little wonder that the average investment in blockchain was $1 million in 2017 alone.

Blockchain Trends

Driven by demands for better security and greater control, global spending on blockchain is increasing at a rapid rate. The value of the technology is expected to grow from a value of $1.5 billion in 2018 to an estimated value of around $11.7 billion in 2022. Some of the trends driving this growth include:

1.      The Desire to Protect Data

Through the Blockchain promise of an encrypted and decentralised network, companies will be more empowered to protect messages and data. After Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, consumer concerns about how their data is used online have been growing. Everyone seems to be more concerned about the amount of control businesses have over consumer information. Through the use of blockchain technology, it will be easier to encrypt and protect data. What’s more, organisations will be able to implement strategies to remove data when necessary.

2.      Convergence Between Blockchain and IoT

According to a report by Gemalto, the use of blockchain technology for securing devices and data in the IoT environment doubled in 2018. This trend of using blockchain to deal with the challenges of the Internet of Things is likely to continue in the future. More companies are beginning to recognise the value of having a distributed and encrypted ledger of information to track their IoT environment. The decentralised space will prevent attackers from bypassing security through a DoS attack to a single point of failure.

Additionally, with the number of connected devices expected to grow over 26 billion during this year, machine-to-machine communication will continue to grow. Data will need to be managed at a speed that would be impossible for humans. Blockchains will be able to better log and monitor communications between “things.”

3.      The Rise of Blockchain as a Service

Everything as a service has become a crucial trend in the communication environment. As organisations continue to discover the value of blockchains, some are even beginning to develop their own chain solutions. However, managing, creating, and updating your blockchain would be tough – particularly for smaller enterprises.

With Blockchain as a service, companies would be able to build their blockchain-powered smart contracts, apps, and other features, without having to develop a blockchain infrastructure of their own.  Some companies have already begun to experiment with offerings in the BaaS environment already, and use of these systems is likely to rise going forward.

Blockchain Statistics

As the demand for secure and distributed ledgers continues to grow, we’re beginning to see more exciting evolutions in the blockchain environment. When Blockchain was first created by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008, it was a concept purely for cryptocurrency. Now, the options for blockchain are practically unlimited.

  • Only 1% of CIOs in a Gartner study said that they had adopted a blockchain strategy in their organisation.
  • 69% of banks are currently experimenting with regulated blockchain.
  • 12% of IT pros in a 451-research study said that they expected blockchain to be a priority for their business in 2019
  • The market value of blockchain is expected to grow to $60 billion by 2024
  • Banking infrastructure costs could be reduced by up to 30% through the use of blockchain technology
  • According to UpWork, Blockchain was one of the most sought-after skills for developers to have in 2018.
  • In 2019, Statista expects the global spending on Blockchain to reach around $2.9 billion
  • Almost 50% of people expect to see commercial blockchain being adopted by 2020.

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