Week 11: Blockchain for corporations

Blockchain has many applications for corporations & we are in the early stages of adoption but make no mistake, we are moving away from a blockchain space which is overly focused on what Bitcoin's price is doing on a daily, weekly or monthly basis along with the broader crypto market. Institutions are building and they are investing hundreds of millions of euros in the Metaverse, payments, NFTs and Web 3.0. The fusion of blockchain with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) is creating a whole new world of opportunity for just about every type of business. It's therefore essential to understand how this is going to impact your job, company or industry as this space is seeing the fastest adoption of any technology in history. We are entering the Exponential Age!

The key benefits of blockchain for corporations are numerous but here are seven.

1. Fosters trust, allowing parties to work together & exchange information & other data.
2. Data stored on a single distributed registry with access only for those with the appropriate permissions (hybrid blockchain).
3. Security of data storage at a high level.
4. Removes intermediaries & their services.
5. Generation of all records in real-time.
6. Guarantees authenticity & integrity of products.
7. Control & full tracking of goods & services in the supply chain.

It's clear that with these benefits, most corporations should be able to leverage blockchain to substantially improve at least one or two key areas of their business. For the sake of clarity, we're going to look at two industries here - Training & Coaching & Retail & Commerce.

Training & Coaching

Training & coaching corporations can benefit from implementing blockchain in the following ways:-

• NFTs for certifications (proof of qualification)
• dNFTs which can be modified by the creators to add value in the future
• Metaverse experiences to immerse clients into realistic situations
• Gamification of training with tokens as rewards.

NB: dNFTs = Dynamic Non-fungible tokens which unlike standard NFTs can be edited by the original creator after being minted - essentially - updatable.

Here are four ways a coaching company could use blockchain to boost efficiency, reduce costs & increase student / client engagement:-

1. dNFTs minted & transferred to students upon course completion (proof). dNFTs are powerful in this instance as the issuing company can at any time in the future, add value to the dNFT by updating it with a special offer for another course as an example. This is a great way to stay connected to clients & brings cross & up-selling opportunities into the realm of possibilities.
2. Gamification of training with NFT awards for participation. One of the biggest challenges in coaching & training is maximising participation & the Metaverse is opening the door to the gamification of training. By making the sessions more immersive, experiential & fun, when designed in the right way, this could be a game changer for training companies & students alike!
3. International invoice payments automated using stablecoins or similar crypto (faster, cheaper, traceable & carbon neutral). For companies which send & receive international payments, the traditional SEPA banking system can be tiresome, frustrating & expensive. Using blockchain-based payments solutions like those pioneered by Ripple, R3 Corda & the like, could revolutionise the way cross-border payments are made.
4. Option to receive payments in crypto using Bitpay, Stripe etc. More & more companies are opening up the possibility to receive client & customer payments in cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP etc. We are not quite at the mainstream adoption stage yet but the foundations are being laid as you read this so when it does happen, it is likely to happen very quickly.

Retail & Commerce

The experience of buying, owning & selling products & services is likely going to change once dNFTs are adding into the experience & the value that will come as a result is going to be a game changer for brands.

Let's take a look at the process of buying, owning & selling a car:-

1. dNFT transferred to buyer's digital wallet at purchase (2 second QR code scan)
2. dNFT updated at each service
3. dNFT updated if insurance claim
4. dNFT transferred from first owner to new owner at sale

Result: Complete & immutable history of vehicle from A to Z.?

The same can be said for buying & selling property (see below). This is a great moment to remember the 3 pillars of blockchain technology:- decentralisation, transparency & immutability. The opportunities for the new & secondhand markets are truly endless.

Of course, not everyone has (or wants to have) a digital wallet that would be necessary to facilitate the transfer of dNFTs so more education, training & awareness is needed but just as with the advent of the internet, it will come and it will be here sooner rather than later. Are you ready & is your business..?

Disclaimer

This series of newsletters complements the weekly blocklunch45 sessions and is for educational purposes only as my mission is to educate as many business leaders, entrepreneurs and consultants as possible about the miriad of amazing use-cases of blockchain. It is not financial advice in any shape or form and the examples given are to illustrate the content only.

If as a result, participants and / or readers decide to invest on any of the companies or brand names mentioned, then that is entirely at their own risk. Please do your own research (DYOR).

If you are interested in joining the blocklunch sessions then please email me at [email protected].

Jeremy Williams.