How Usage-Based Payments are Enabling Blockchain-Based Integrated Business Ecosystems

The blockchain-enabled data integrity aids new kinds of inter-organizational and inter-industry collaboration, working as a backbone for applications in areas like Industry 4.0, Mobility, and Energy whilst being paid with a pay-per-use plan. Earlier, expensive and inappropriate intermediate stages of the business, caused by unsuitable ERP systems, data silos, various company policies, and a scarcity of trust, are thus joined and blended over the whole business lifecycle and are controlled by the conditions of a forward contract. Hence, the blockchain’s features of transparency, immutability, and cryptography are the foundations for the evolution of inter-company and inter-industry collaboration. This builds a high level of security among partakers of integrated ecosystems, allowing tremendous automation with auditable parameters and concurrently decreasing human intervention demand.

Blockchain-enabled integrated business ecosystems have led to the new cross-industry and cross-sectoral collaboration within firms. The resulting interoperability generates an open reorientation of the participating organizations, facilitating individual entities to be part of a globally networked economy. The outward-looking re-orientation of the organizations yields a mutual interchange of data, which will lead to a profoundly collaborative and diversified ecosystem. Yet, in such ecosystems, the blockchain can simply elaborate its potential and build appended benefits with the other rising technologies. Before-mentioned ecosystems get data listed by IoT devices, which are then determined and validated by blockchain and continuously automated by AI. Blockchain fundamentally acts as the primary-layer for the encrypted and translucent transfer of data, to automate, build, and harmonize the data movement among the associated companies.

Applicability of blockchain-based integrated Business Ecosystems

The potential of integrated ecosystems enhances for corporations with a huge machine base allowing connectivity to the internet, for enterprises with high-volume and industry-relevant data generation, and organizations sustaining recurring and intense supply relations amongst each other. Moreover, companies can blend their machines with a payment network, increase automation, and also make instruments available in the market, increasing machine utilization, and reducing idle times. Finance departments and risk management can benefit from the blockchain and emerging ecosystems to swap valuable and industry-relevant data with different ecosystem associates and monetize the collected data. For example, the vehicle data being transferred among different car manufacturers in an ecosystem to improve vehicle performances.

Moreover, blockchain eradicates restrictions that earlier prevented the safe and direct exchange of data. All participants hold full command over the data and can choose the data according to need. Companies with big and multi-dimensional supply connections can utilize such ecosystems to automate and streamline the entire order cycle. Thus, an integrated ecosystem possibly results in price reductions concerning cost-efficiencies by business automation, administrative expenditures decrease and a labor cost reduction. Besides, they present a chance for new businesses and new profit provisions for engaging organizations.

Blockchain-based pay-per-use facilitates inter-company and cross-industry collaboration.

This technology serves as a key to aid the complete assimilation of the data flow involved in the economic process of Industry 4.0. Underlying smart deals thus allow machines to carry payment transactions (M2M payments) as well as check the transaction-related business process without human-operated interventions. Blockchain expedites complete clarity and probity of sensors’ telemetry data that can be used to qualify new billing systems, increasing the trust among the operators and customers. These ecosystems uncover the absolute potential when multilateral, i.e. when numerous partners leverage the secured telemetry data, which is later verified by blockchain to build and sustain business relations within a multi-party ecosystem. Therefore several stakeholders on a value chain obtain a common operational structure to offer and expand their work in a completely automated and digital frame.

Roles of the ecosystem participants

1.The machine manufacturer manufactures the machine and transports it to the machine user site. The machine is furnished with many sensors to map the machine’s utilization. This data is then provided to the machine user with a usage-based invoice that is pay-per-use. The usage data produced is also transported to a bank within the equivalent ecosystem to enable the machine manufacturer to receive usage-based loan-repayments to link the production costs.

2.The machine user buys the machine from the machine manufacturer. It is not acquired or hired at calculated rates as in traditional models but rather invoiced as per the original machine's utilization. The produced sensor data is further sent to an insurance company within the very ecosystem, providing the user to have a usage-based insurance rebate.

3.The bank collects the machine’s sensors usage data and offers usage-based mortgage repayments to the device manufacturer.

4.The insurance company gets the machine’s sensors usage data and offers a usage-based coverage premium to the user.

Conclusion

Blockchain technology, by its inherent characteristic of data sincerity and clarity, will promote integrated business ecosystems, a spine for applications and business models in various fields. The networked economy expedites modern modes of inter-organizational and inter-industry collaboration which are examined in the iBlockchain project. This provides infinite advantages for every participating party like financing opportunities, reduced business and industry risk, innovative business models, and new market developments. Especially in confluence with other rising technologies like IoT and AI, tremendous automation and business method optimization is achieved. Nonetheless, the essential preconditions for these ecosystems encompass standardization of blockchain protocols, a mindset shift within the supreme management of companies as well as impartial platform governance.