Did you know?
Global
expenditure on Blockchain services is estimated to cross15.9 billion by the
year 2023, which was just 1.5 billion in 2018!- as per a report generated by
Statista- a renowned online market place for statistics.
These staggering numbers portray a massive
growth of this technology in just 5 years. Needless to say, Blockchain is going
to be a game-changer. Introduced in 2011, Blockchain-as-a-Service has already
been the talk of the town and widely adopted by nearly 44% of the organizations
worldwide.
So, what is Blockchain technology? What is
Blockchain-as-a-service? What are the potential advantages it offers to
businesses? All such queries will be answered in this write-up.
What is Blockchain Technology?
The term ‘Blockchain’ represents a digital
ledger that enables writing data into ‘blocks.’ Every new block created is
added to the previous one, thus creating a chain i.e. Blockchain. Every single block is
secured through encryption while writing. In this system, users can access the
sensitive information using a unique key code. Besides, this peer-to-peer
system does not need any third-party for managing the transaction, making it
all the more secure system. Also, this digital ledger cannot be altered after
the blocks are added to the chain, hence this system is very authentic.
Though explained in simple terms here,
Blockchain is not that easy to implement. Several businesses are struggling to
leverage Blockchain app development solutions. The operational overhead and
technical complexities involved in developing, configuring, functioning, and
maintaining Blockchains stand as a barrier. Yet, it is one of the
fastest-growing technologies today due to its key features like decentralized
nature, encryption, top-level security, and trustworthiness while saving and
processing sensitive data.
What is Blockchain-as-a-Service (or
BaaS) all About?
Blockchain-as-a-Service i.e. BaaS has
emerged as a third-party system for building and managing cloud-based networks
for businesses to design powerful Blockchain-based applications for themselves.
It enables them to create, host, and operate their own Blockchain applications
and related functionalities.
The Blockchain as a service business model
is considered to be a remarkable invention as Blockchain technology expands far
beyond its most popular applications in cryptocurrency and can extensively be
used for all kinds of transactions at minimal costs. Blockchain-as-a-service
enables businesses to utilize Blockchain technology without the need for
investing in an in-house team. BaaS acts like a kind of web host, running the
back-end operation for Blockchain app development services. It also provides
support activities like suitable allocation of resources, bandwidth management,
data security features hosting requirements, etc. Thus, Blockchain Service
Providers with the help of BaaS model can access the Blockchain services from
the cloud and develop the blockchain application in a minimum cost.
Today, the giants like Microsoft, Amazon,
PayStand, and R3 are known to be the best BaaS providers across the globe.
Applications and Characteristics of
Blockchain-as-a-Service!
Decentralization
Here, decentralization
means transferring the control over data and related decisions from a
centralized authority to a distributed network. Usually, most of the data is
stored in local devices and computers and single entities monitor them. In case
the employees are unavailable or those devices are shut down, accessing or
restoring the data in real-time becomes tedious. In such cases, Blockchain is
quite useful. It has a distributed ledger database where the data is stored in
blocks. Here, data isn’t managed by any single node due to which other nodes
too can access and control the data even if any single node isn’t working.
Smart
Contracts
A smart contract is a contract where some
particular conditions and situations are specified for the automatic execution
of predefined tasks. These are programmed in such a manner that actions are
taken automatically when the related terms of the agreements are performed. All
this drastically reduces the requirement of intermediaries, enhances the speed
of execution, makes the transactions cost-effective, and more reliable, and
secure.
Smart contracts are employed in several
applications like voting systems, supply chain management, healthcare data
processing, payment and rent agreements, identity access, personal information
access, intellectual property rights understanding, royalty distribution
agreement, etc.
Traceability
All the data is stored and can be accessed
publically in a Blockchain system, allowing everyone to view it and make
modifications to it for ensuring no false data is used. But, the whole process
is governed by Blockchain consensus algorithms. Due to this, without the
permission of all other participants, no one can make any alterations. Also,
nodes are used for recording every single action taken. Thus, traceability is
ensured resulting in effective communication and improved business
relationships.
Transparency
Along with traceability, Blockchain
app development services also ensure transparency in the business
processes. Since Blockchain is unchangeable in nature, the data in the blocks
can’t be added, modified, or eliminated anonymously. Also, it is possible to
track everything in real-time due to the distributed ledger technology. All
this ensures accountability, gains the trust of the clients, and thus, improves
business relationships.
Data
Security and Privacy
As explained earlier, all the data and
content is open, accessible publically, and encrypted. However, only the users
that are approved by the node manager can access the content and modify it.
This property of Blockchain leads to high security and privacy of data from
those outside the complete system.
Cases of data breaches and hacking crimes
are on the rise and Blockchain’s security feature can tackle this problem
completely. It applies several cryptographic techniques, hash keys, Merkle trees, etc.
making it highly difficult to revise or steal the data. Besides, projects like
Eximchain and Signal have been developed to ensure seamless and secure business
communication and transactions.
Pros and Cons of Baas
Pros:
- Ease of use due to availability
of ready-made customizable templates and modules.
- Outsourcing tasks like
operations, implementation, and maintenance to the BaaS partner greatly helps
in reducing the operational cost to a large extent.
- Focused on customization
- High security and protection
from frauds
- Owing to customizable modules
and templates that BaaS provides, there is an ease of use in developing
Blockchain systems.
Cons:
- Possibility of service
disruption. Issues in business continuity in case the service provider goes bankrupt
- Low control and visibility of
the owners due to dependency on BaaS service providers
- Challenges in data compliance
- Still in infancy. Businesses do
not have in-depth knowledge of how it works. Also, finding adept Blockchain app
developers is quite difficult.
Wrap-up:
World is witnessing emergence of various
Blockchain service providers at a fast pace. Blockchain app development and
BaaS solution for business are impacting numerous industries like Information
Technology, Insurance, Healthcare, eCommerce, Entertainment industry,
Advertising, Retail, Finance Industry, Cloud Computing, Energy, Government
Projects, etc. with a wide range of applications. These are promising offerings
that can revolutionize business functions and help organizations gain a
competitive advantage. Adoption of Blockchain app development services can
provide businesses of all categories an opportunity to emerge as a leader and
pioneer amongst their peers. The organizations leveraging this technology are
sure to bring a paradigm shift in the way they deal with data and perform
several business transactions.
Our
blog ends here.
Do
you have more thoughts and experiences on this futuristic technology to share
with us? Let us know in the comments section.
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