[Disha Shetty] Hi, my name is Disha Shetty and I'm a current graduate student at the University at Buffalo
majoring in Management Information Systems.
So I'm going to be giving you a brief 5 minutes presentation on the technology Blockchain
and its practical applications.
So, let's get started with the first question: What is Blockchain?
It's a collection of records, which are linked with each other, strongly resistant to alteration
and protected using cryptography.
Basically, it's a chain of blocks that is used to transfer information.
So the next question will be addressing "How does a Blockchain work?"
So basically, a user requests a transaction and this transaction is started as a block.
Now, this block is sent to every node, that is every participant or people in the network,
to verify the block.
Once a block is verified, and validated by the nodes, it is then added to the existing
blockchain and this update is sent, distributed across the network, and the transactional step is completed.
Now, in order to understand a practical application of blockchain, let's consider a business challenge
in today's world in the home purchase domain.
Basically, when a person wants to buy a new home there is no centralized system, which
has a complete or whole record of the home assets lifecycle.
Moreover, the person needs to forward a lot of proof of documentation multiple times to different
entities involved in the house purchase scenario. Example: banks, realtors, lawyers.
So a lot of coordination is required between the entities, which makes the process of house
purchasing very tedious and time consuming.
This business scenario can be simplified using blockchain, where every entity can directly
access a report from a centralized system, fastening the entire house purchasing process.
In layman terms, it's a transformation of a network from a centralized trusted party,
to a decentralized independent network.
Now, as we learn more about blockchain applications in a specific scenario, let's try and analyze,
if given a business scenario, what kind of questions should we ask which will help us to understand, should we be using
blockchain or not?
Because blockchain is actually not so typical in this scenario. So the first question would be "Do we need a
middleman?"
No.
"Do you want to work with digital assets?"
Yes.
"Do you want to be working with multiple parties?"
Yes.
"Do you want a trustless environment?"
Yes.
"Do you need high performance?"
No.
"Does your requirement include large storage?"
No.
"Do you need shared write access?"
Yes.
"Do you need full control over functionalities?"
Yes.
Then go for a private blockchain.
If no, do you want a transaction to be public?
Yes.
Then go for public blockchain.
Okay, now, when we know in what situation we should be using blockchain, let's learn
something more about blockchain applications.
Firstly, blockchain is constantly evolving with the most recent version inclusive of smart contracts,
which is basically a simple program stored in a blockchain used to exchange coins under
a certain condition.
It has applications in digital rights, wagers, and escrows.
Secondly, comes digital currency, which is like bitcoins ethereum, which has applications in
private market and crowdfunding.
Then comes record keeping, which is basically storing all in one place, making it easily accessible.
Now this is a scenario where multiple entities in a network with wide access to the same
record, blockchain would prove to be very efficient.
Example, the patient's electronic medical record in healthcare, property title records,
voting, and intellectual property.
Now, let's consider some of the uses cases in order to understand better some blockchain applications
in different domains.
Starting with healthcare.
Blockchain in drug traceability.
In this situation, the manufacturer produces a drug and this drug will be marked with a
hash and then stored in the blockchain.
Now, the manufacturer will send the drug to the wholesaler.
The wholesaler will send it to the pharmacist.
The pharmacist will actually send it to the customer.
The transaction between each of these entities is stored in a blockchain, thereby enabling
the drug traceability process to be extremely easy.
Now, the second application will be blockchain in government services.
Let's talk through the first business scenario that is tax processing where first the seller reads a
GST invoice, second the buyer pays the bill with the GST invoice, and finally the seller
pays the supplier.
So blockchain with smart contracting in this scenario acts as a coordinator between entities
and accordingly enters the tax calculation during the payment. So the final tax then goes to the government.
So using blockchain, we can actually build a very reliable and official tax processing system,
wherein the entire tax calculation can be automatically managed by smart contracts within
blockchain.
Then comes blockchain in KYC.
Customers simply upload certification documents in blockchain, all entities such as banks and financial institutions
can directly access the KYC in blockchain, verifying the customer using the KYC process.
Similarly, we can also implement this in the healthcare area where we can have a patient
medical record in blockchain, which can be easily accessible by any healthcare provider.
The next application would be blockchain in supply chain.
Now, before blockchain, when an order was placed by a customer, the company's employee would
actually accept the order and then dispatch it to the shipping department.
In the shipping department, there would be shipping clerk who would pick the order and
proceed it to shipment.
Orders then get boxed and then shipped to the customer address.
The customer would then provide feedback.
So this is one of the traditional approaches used for supply chain.
So after blockchain.
What blockchain has done is it has the written the smart contract for the order supply chain
where it matches the supplier ordering by shipment, checks quality against specifications,
updates inventory level, and pay supplier multiple stages of the supply chain, making
the supply chain process management system more efficient and less prone to delay and any kind of issues. Now,
as we have learned a bit about the different applications of blockchain in the different
domains, let's see about some real world applications which currently exist.
There is Pfizer, which is basically tracking records and managing the digital inventory
of pharmaceutical products using blockchain.
Walmart is using blockchain for product tracking.
They are using the technology to track product movement from farmers to store.
Maersk Shipping, they are using the system to track movement of shipments between ports.
United Healthcare, using blockchain technology to improve doctor's directories to enable
accurate information filing.
Then MetLife, they are using blockchain technology for storing patients' medical records for
insurance purposes.
So, this was a gist about what blockchain is and what are some of the practical applications
of blockchain.
So, I understand you might have a slight idea of how blockchain can be used in different
business scenarios and how you could potentially understand that in a given business scenario,
should you be using blockchain for it.