Blockchain technology has come a long way since the advent of Bitcoin in 2008. Today, it’s started to find its way into everyday businesses. It has slowly been embraced into leaders’ minds and their business models.

But how exactly did this happen? What does blockchain provide that is so valuable to these leaders? Let’s dive deep into some of the most common reasons why someone would want to leverage blockchain technology into their business.

Why is blockchain considered disruptive?

Blockchain technology is disruptive because it offers a decentralized, transparent, secure, efficient, and innovative way to manage transactions and data. As more businesses adopt blockchain technology, it is likely that they will be able to achieve greater efficiency, reduce costs, and create new business models that are based on decentralization and peer-to-peer networks.

This could potentially disrupt traditional industries and create new opportunities for growth and innovation. Decentralization, transparency, security, efficiency, and innovation are some of the key reasons why seasoned business leaders and upcoming disruptive leaders alike are embracing blockchain technology!

These are just fancy words, what do they actually mean?

Let’s have a look at exactly how these reasons mentioned above are ACTUALLY making businesses perform better:

1. Improved security: Blockchain technology is a secure and decentralized way to store and transfer data, making it less susceptible to hacking and fraud. Businesses are using blockchain to secure transactions, protect sensitive data, and prevent fraud.
2. Increased efficiency: Blockchain technology can automate and streamline business processes, reducing the need for intermediaries and increasing efficiency. This can help to reduce costs and improve the speed of transactions.
3. Improved transparency: Blockchain technology creates a transparent and auditable record of all transactions, making it easier for businesses to track and verify the movement of assets and data. This can help to reduce fraud and increase trust between parties.
4. New business models: Blockchain technology enables the creation of new business models that are based on decentralized and peer-to-peer networks. This can disrupt traditional business models and create new opportunities for innovation and growth.
5. Reduced costs: Blockchain technology can reduce the costs associated with intermediaries, paperwork, and other administrative processes. This can help businesses to save money and operate more efficiently.
6. Improved customer experience: Blockchain technology can improve the customer experience by reducing the time and costs associated with transactions, improving security, and providing greater transparency.

As you can see, there really are some tangible benefits to plugging blockchain into your business models! Overall, it makes for a much safer, faster, and more efficient product. As more businesses adopt blockchain technology, it is likely that these impacts will continue to grow and evolve.

Now let’s get to the juicy bit, which industries are actually going to be disrupted soon? Before you read on, do try and guess how many you can think of.

Now that you have a list in your mind, let’s see how many you got shall we?

Is this the new revolution after the internet?

Before we start off with this list, it’s important to understand that these industries are already quite established in the current form of technology. This makes it more difficult for new technology to disrupt an age-old technology.

To appreciate the importance of why disruption is so difficult, let’s take an example of how the internet changed the face of almost all industries. As more and more businesses realized the power of computers from all across the world connected over the internet, one by one, each of them started moving to digital services and moving their products to online platforms.

• Blockbuster, an offline DVD-selling company died out and is not replaced by Netflix, an online streaming platform where people have access to 1000s of movies and shows to watch at any time, from anywhere, via the internet
• When was the last time you read a newspaper in its physical form? Chances are if you’re a Gen Z or a Millennial, you’ve moved to the online medium of news consumption. So have most news agencies shifted away from newspapers to news apps
• By far one of the largest shifts to online includes the music industries – from their physical record and vinyl, we are now in the age of streaming all songs in the highest quality from the internet thanks to the likes of Spotify and Apple Music

• Stock brokerages have also shifted from paper shares back in the day to online brokerages and bidding platforms with quick and live share buy and sell calls and puts today

Clearly, blockchain technology is on its way to revolutionizing and disrupting existing matured industries into a new phase, dragging companies along with it.

History is repeating itself from the age of internet to the age of blockchain.

Which industries are going to be disrupted soon? And why?

Let’s finally look at which industries have already, or are most likely to be disrupted by blockchain technology in the near future:

1. Finance and Banking: The traditional financial system relies on intermediaries such as banks, clearinghouses, and other financial institutions to facilitate transactions. Blockchain technology can eliminate the need for intermediaries by creating a decentralized ledger of transactions that is transparent, secure, and tamper-proof. This can reduce transaction costs, increase transaction speed, and improve the security of financial transactions.
2. Supply Chain Management: The current supply chain system is often fragmented and lacks transparency, making it difficult to track the movement of goods from suppliers to consumers. Blockchain technology can create a decentralized ledger that allows for the secure and transparent tracking of goods throughout the supply chain. This can reduce the risk of fraud, improve inventory management, and increase the efficiency of the supply chain.
3. Healthcare: The healthcare industry is often hampered by inefficient and insecure management of patient data, medical records, and insurance claims. Blockchain technology can create a secure and efficient system for managing this data by creating a decentralized ledger that is tamper-proof and transparent. This can improve patient outcomes, reduce administrative costs, and increase data security.
4. Real Estate: The current real estate transaction process is often complex and slow, with multiple intermediaries involved in the transfer of property ownership. Blockchain technology can create a decentralized ledger that allows for the secure and transparent transfer of property ownership, title transfers, and contracts. This can reduce transaction costs, increase transaction speed, and improve the security of real estate transactions.
5. Energy: The current energy system is often centralized and relies on intermediaries to facilitate the exchange of energy. Blockchain technology can create a decentralized ledger that allows for the efficient exchange of energy between producers and consumers without the need for intermediaries. This can reduce transaction costs, increase efficiency, and improve the reliability of the energy system.
6. Insurance: The insurance industry is often bogged down by complex and inefficient processes for underwriting policies, processing claims, and managing risk. Blockchain technology can create a secure and transparent system for managing insurance policies and claims by creating a decentralized ledger that allows for the efficient transfer of data and funds.
7. Voting: The current voting system is often hampered by concerns over fraud, tampering, and lack of transparency. Blockchain technology can create a secure and transparent system for conducting elections by creating a decentralized ledger that allows for the secure recording and tallying of votes.
8. Intellectual Property: The current system for protecting intellectual property is often complex and difficult to enforce. Blockchain technology can create a secure and transparent system for managing intellectual property rights by creating a decentralized ledger that allows for the efficient transfer and management of ownership and usage rights.
9. Gaming: The gaming industry is often hampered by concerns over security, fraud, and cheating. Blockchain technology can create a secure and transparent system for managing in-game assets, transactions, and player identities by creating a decentralized ledger that allows for the efficient transfer of data and assets. (https://nelsonjsalon.com)
10. Identity Verification: The current system for verifying identity is often complex and inefficient, leading to concerns over data breaches and identity theft. Blockchain technology can create a secure and transparent system for managing identity verification by creating a decentralized ledger that allows for the efficient transfer and management of identity data.

There are many more industries that blockchain can get into and completely change the course of. But for today, we are mostly focusing on developed and matured industries that are usually not east be disrupted, making this disruption a very interesting few years for all of us to observe and hypothesize on how things will unfold soon!

I believe blockchain technology has already started warping several businesses and their business models to fit into a new decentralized world. More is yet to come as time passes.

What do you think?