Blockchain for Business.

As part of my new college course which I have started from January. I will use this as a chance to share what I am learning with the @leofinance community while documenting my new lessons by blogging about them for myself. What better way to study my topic in depth than by writing all about it on the chain and for others to read and question it.

Module – Blockchain Technology.

Lecture 1: Are Irish businesses ready for a blockchain world?

Objectives

• Learn the basic principle behind blockchain technology.
• Read article about blockchain technology from the Irish times.
• Analyse and respond to the article.

Main body

For our first lecture in blockchain technologies, we have been set to read an article from the lecturer in the Irish Times, “Are Irish businesses ready for a blockchain world?”.

The article is here and makes for an interesting read,

Irish Times: Are Irish businesses ready for a blockchain world?

It goes through the main points relating to blockchain use case.

• Borderless
• Trustless
• Secure
• Intellectual property
• Transparent

There are a number of misconceptions relating to blockchain – most notably that blockchain and virtual currencies (such as bitcoin) are the same entity.

Blockchain is often portrayed as a black box technology mostly associated with virtual currencies and financial institutions. Our research indicates its wide-ranging applications make it an exciting testing ground for Irish organisations to develop game-changing business products and services.

Ref: Irish Times

Conclusion


Do I think that Irish businesses are ready for a blockchain world?

After reading the article in the Irish Times, it appears that we are still in a relatively similar place to three years ago in terms of mindset and adoption.
If we look at the technology adoption curve, I would think that we are still at the innovators stage and moving towards the early adopters phase. We are starting to see real use case for blockchain technology but these examples are few and far between.

There is a huge amount of untapped potential from blockchain integration into a lot of different sectors in Ireland and it has the possibility to change the business landscape over the next five to twenty years. The initial groundwork and exploration is being done now and once the innovators build more use case then the early adopters will give it a try and eventually we will see a majority of businesses integrating with blockchain to an extent at some stage.

There are a lot of barriers to adoption at the moment which is always the way with technological advancements.

• Skill set.
• Regulations.
• Funding.
• Education.
• Mindset.
• Leadership

Over time these hurdles will be overcome if the will is there for change. Courses like this will improve education and skill sets. More developers will build out systems and create easier to use options ready to implement.

Organizations like the Blockchain Association will educate businesses on the benefits while changing the current mindset towards blockchain will happen as real world uses are built upon these systems. More uses than just cryptocurrency and false hype.

Then with proper backing from the government and regulatory frameworks in place a lot more people and businesses will be willing and able to integrate the new technology into the old systems. Like the original internet it will be a move away from current free for all practices associated with blockchain to a more acceptable way of operating.

With the first successes a lot more people will start looking to follow in those footsteps. It's always the slowest at the start as everything needs to be built upon one layer at a time.

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