How Blockchain Can Benefit Your Company: Exploration and Practical Approaches

What benefits does blockchain have for your company? Start exploring.

More and more enterprises are turning to blockchain technology, an open‑source system for creating distributed ledgers that record shared transactions (financial or otherwise). The basic idea is that no single party can tamper with the data because everyone accesses the same information and any change is permanently recorded.

While blockchain is best known for powering cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether, its potential extends far beyond digital money.

"Whenever data needs to be transferred between parties that do not necessarily trust each other, a distributed database can provide value," says Matt Chwierut, research lead at Smith + Crown, a blockchain‑focused research institute. The Internet of Things is a prime example: devices from different manufacturers may need to exchange protocol information without trusting each other, which a neutral, decentralized ledger can facilitate.

Some blockchains can create "smart contracts" that automatically execute when predefined conditions are met, reshaping traditional contract processes. These contracts show promise in banking, pharmaceuticals, and other sectors, although further technical advances are required before they can interoperate with existing corporate data systems.

In another scenario, blockchain offers artists and musicians a new way to receive greater compensation for their work.

If you are ready to experiment with blockchain, consider the four basic approaches described by Chwierut:

1. Use blockchain‑as‑a‑service (BaaS). Cloud providers such as Microsoft Azure and AWS offer sandbox environments where you can start building blockchain applications to see how they work for your company.

Pros: Limited commitment that lets you treat blockchain as a test driver.

Cons: BaaS is useful for experiments, but if you decide to take blockchain seriously you will likely need to move beyond this method.

2. Use a public blockchain platform. Platforms like Ethereum and Bitcoin are not only currencies; they also serve as open platforms where companies can host transactions and applications.

Pros: Because these platforms are open to anyone, external users can interact with your blockchain application without needing access to your internal network, providing a competitive and mature ecosystem.

Cons: Transactions run on distributed networks incur small fees, as miners (or validators) charge for processing each operation.

3. Deploy an open‑source blockchain on your own servers. This involves taking open‑source code from an existing blockchain project and customizing it to create a private blockchain, a popular option for companies seeking internal authentication and collaboration.

Pros: You can modify the blockchain to suit your preferences, host it within your network, and restrict access as needed.

Cons: The blockchain may not behave exactly as expected.

4. Build a blockchain protocol from scratch. Although the developer community has already contributed extensive work to blockchain technology, you may choose to design your own protocol if you have compelling reasons.

Pros: You can design the blockchain exactly the way you want, such as processing transactions faster than existing public chains or adjusting block sizes.

Cons: Public blockchains benefit from ongoing open‑source community improvements and debugging; creating your own means you must handle troubleshooting and miss out on community wisdom.

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Pros: You can tailor the blockchain to your specific needs, potentially achieving higher performance or custom features.

Cons: You forfeit the advantages of community‑driven development and must maintain and debug the system yourself.