Discussion forum

Discussion forum

Introduction

Emerge of blockchain technology has led to the transformation of economic forces and business transformation due to its ability to change the financial sector and relationship among businesses and consumers. It has established new opportunities for businesses and organizations to add value to their business as well as reduce existing challenges on financial transactions. The technology provides a decentralized digital database of the transaction following various processes that enable businesses in the financial industry to carry their transaction more effectively and efficiently. It also used in other services industry companies in developing public trust, data protection, and reduction of cost. This paper discusses two questions concerning how blockchain technology has been applied in industry and government and barriers existing on the adoption of the technology.

Question 1

Blockchain technologies have led to improved customer relationships in both business and government institutions. The technology has developed a customer relationship building block that establishes customer segments to cater to customer needs and preferences (Arun, Cuomo, & Gaur, 2019). Most businesses have used technology has reported an increase in customer relationships through motivation to acquire new customers, retain an existing customer, boost sales, and increase customer satisfaction. It has led to improved trust among citizens when dealing with government institutions and public services.

The technology has been successful in values addition and proposition in business and government functions (Arun, Cuomo, & Gaur, 2019). Through its values, the proposition block has a combination of all activities within an organization that lead to the creation of values to the customer. It influences customer value addition by providing access to quality products and services and providing faster and less expensive transactions.

Blockchain technology had been successful in cost reduction in most industries and government since it removes the role of middlemen in business and creates a direct relationship between the seller and buyer (Morkunas, Paschen, & Boon, 2019). This is enabled through channel building blocks that create a direct channel to deal with customers and businesses with no intermediaries. Another way is through the improvement of data protection in government and industry since blockchain facilitates authentication of documents presented in the contract between seller and buyer.

Question 2

Blockchain technology faces various challenges such as lack of standardization due to diversity of industry that keeps increasing that make it difficult to integrate multiple architectures, high cost of adoption and complexity involved, and lack future prospect in regulatory measures (Bussgang, Berk, & Schwalb, 2019). Most of the business consider blockchain operation as slow in their operation hindering effective adoption in the industry despite improving business operation efficiency. There is a lack of teamwork and collaboration between users and enablers of blockchain technology.

Conclusion

Adoption of blockchain technology in industry and government has led to cost reduction, improved customer relationships, increased value addition, and improved customer data protection. This has led many businesses to adopt the implementation of technology due to enhanced business operation efficiency and other benefits such as improved profitability. Despite this benefit, many organizations face multiple obstacles when they wish to adopt blockchain technology. Some of these barriers include high cost of implementation, regulation uncertainty, lack of standardization, lack of collaboration between user and enabler of technology, slowness of blockchain operation.

Arun, J. S., Cuomo, J., & Gaur, N. (2019). Blockchain for Business. New York: Pearson Addison-Wesley.

Bussgang, J. J., Berk, E. B., & Schwalb, N. (2019, January 15). AirFox (A): Embracing the Blockchain and an ICO. Harvard Business School.

Morkunas, V. J., Paschen, J., & Boon, E. (2019). How Blockchain technologies impact your business model. Business Horizons, 62, 295-306.