Blockchain has been one of the most impactful technological advancements. It offers industries the much-needed ability to make transparent transactions. As new tools, platforms, and technologies emerge, it is essential for entrepreneurs to leverage the same across their business models. Blockchain and AI are rapidly creating a range of new opportunities for existing and potential businesses. Here are a few industries that hold the potential to be considerably benefited from blockchain adoption.
EdTech
In the era of ever-expanding knowledge and skills, many have started leveraging the flexibility of e-learning. Online education is accessible from the comfort of one’s home at any time. E-learning needs a digital exchange of goods- a credit card payment in return for an instructional video download. Organizations have the technological infrastructure to support such exchanges and provide educational content.
Blockchain allows reliable direct provider-to-consumer transactions. No third-party is required to process or verify a transaction between a blockchain e-learning provider and a remote learner. An immutable ledger automatically validates and secures the sale. It doesn’t just have to be a transactional token in e-learning- tokens can also be used to incentivize learning.
For example, AI Gaming uses blockchain tokens to incentivize participation in educational AI coding courses. Advanced learners can participate in crowd-sourced AI problems posed by partner companies. They receive blockchain token rewards for contributing to a solution.
MedTech
Most people today don’t have just one healthcare provider over the course of their lifetime. It’s critical for all providers to stay on the same page, with access to all medical flies from birth to present. Conventionally, these medical files containing healthcare information and records are stocked as papers within each office. Transfer of such medical data becomes laborious and requires excessive administrative coordination.
Electronic medical records keep the same information as their paper counterparts. In theory, they can easily be transferred between offices. However, clashing formats and patient permissions can often act as a significant roadblock for an uninterrupted flow of information.
Blockchain can facilitate the provision of a universally accessible format for storing medical records. A provider would not need to struggle to open or interpret files from another provider.
Furthermore, blockchain transaction ledger provides an ideal way for patients to control and track who has access to their confidential medical information. Companies such as Doc.AI & Chronicled are actively integrating the fields of blockchain and medical record keeping.
Real Estate
Market distortion, monopolies, and inefficiencies often end up hurting consumers. The U.S. real estate market is an example. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is an influential lobbying group. According to OpenSecrets.org, they were the second-highest lobbying spenders in the country in 2017. They successfully controlled a majority of the real estate workforce -approximately 1.3 million members.
Blockchain can help consumers gain substantial power over the real estate market. Real estate transactions can utilize the security offered by the blockchain ledger to function beyond the powerful groups such as NAR. The tightening of traditional lending for property investments has created a massive opportunity for non-traditional lending institutions to explore this space.
AI helps in streamlining the qualification process by helping lenders identify qualified buyers and mitigating risk. It also helps the investors quickly secure the funding they need. VR, on the other hand, can be a boon for the real estate industry in several ways. For example, potential buyers no longer have to take long trips to various locations all around. They can instead view dozens of houses using VR technology.
Lead Generation
Converting leads into customers is a scrupulous task. It requires marketers to explore through thousands of prospects in the hope of finding the ones that convert. Many companies also gather potential leads from data provider services. However, these leads are plagued with incomplete or inaccurate information. AI has the potential to solve this data quality issue. By rapidly processing millions of data points to identify trends and correlations, the problem can be tackled efficiently. Further, customers and users can be assured about the safety and privacy of their data given the scope of blockchain.
These were a few industries and sectors where blockchain can impact the market trends positively. While its adoption is a global phenomenon, certain applications have more potential than others.
