In the last 2 years, the Blockchain is on everyone's lips, or rather many companies exploit it as a marketing strategy.
With the Blockchain you can register, archive, catalog, nail the smart ones, but ...
But are we ready for this Advent?
Do we know perfectly well how it works so much that we understand that some of its magnificently positive sides can be useless or even counterproductive?
I don't want to sound like a big stick or snob, I just want to draw the attention of you readers to a topic that involves me a lot and that requires a minimum of "awe".
As we know the Blockchain is a distributed ledger, that is, it is part of the large family of DLT (Digital LEDGER Technology); but it has a peculiarity inside: the Time stamp. In this post I have talked more about it.
In fact, this technological innovation has been defined as a Cultural Movement, we remember well the origins that Bitcoin has: it was developed on the privacy principles of the Cypherpunks.
Like all cultural movements it will bring shakes to social normality because it will impose a different way of thinking and a different lifestyle, all implemented on transparency
This theme is fundamental to be able to apply the Blockchain, as this tool applies to companies, of course, but companies are made by people ...
So in order to apply the Blockchain to your company we must first understand if our company is structured in such a way as to welcome it without difficulty.
To get the most out of this technology, you need to be prepared, because the Blockchain does not adapt: ??that is, the one who has to adapt is the company, and even more so, the way of thinking of company managers.
We are obviously talking about a public and not a private blockchain: if we prevent our blockchain from being public, we are tracing a simple electronic register.
Let's see some aspects that can act as a "needle of the balance" to understand whether the implementation of a blockchain can be justified or not.
Confidence
The blockchain solves the problem of trust and to do this it must be public, otherwise it makes no sense to talk about it;
The data
As we all know, an infinite number of data are produced in the company, some of which are of temporary importance, or modified after a short while and what is very important is the truthfulness of these data.
I have dealt with the topic in more detail here
The speed
In a company, the people in charge of making decisions do so in a matter of seconds and resolve with a few phone calls or even just one.
The blockchain, despite having smart-contracts available, cannot make decisions in a few seconds;
Privacy
This is an extremely thorny topic especially for rather restrictive regulations, it goes without saying that being the Blockchain a decentralized system it cannot be fully satisfied.
Obviously the data are processed by encryption algorithms, but for the sole purpose of not being able to modify them and to make the whole data set anonymous / pseudonym.
Flexibility
The Blockchain does not allow you to make changes to the recorded data, therefore if our company produces data that is renewed by canceling the previous ones, this tool is not for our company.
The Cryptocurrency
To issue a cryptocurrency you don't need a Blockchain, you can issue a virtual currency faster and easier without it (a digital currency, for example).
If we want our cryptocurrency to rely on the Blockchain, here we create a synergy of factors, we could almost define it as an ecosystem.
All cryptocurrencies are IT ecosystems: they support and introduce solutions with the help of the Communities.
As we could understand, apparently, no company really needs the Blockchain.
Now I will seem contradictory to you: first the companies that use it dare and then I belittle them because I say that no company is structured to welcome it.
What I mean is that, in fact, we are facing an epochal turning point in how to do business: we must make a qualitative leap, in the sense that we must not be terrified if our data can be consulted by someone: what does industrial espionage matter ? With the blockchain we can prove that we are the first to have used that strategy or invented that productive step; afterwards it is up to the bodies in charge to assert our reason.
Nothing happens, everything is recorded, you know who, what, when and for how long they viewed our data.
And then it could become a business: if I have very important projects that I do not want to disclose, I can leave access via Smart Contract underlying a payment: the whole world knows that the project is mine and therefore also the copyrights are protected.
In short, I confirm that it is a great invention and for this reason I look at it a little with that awe with which masters look when they wisely explain the secrets of the art they are teaching you.
