Gone are the days of over-promising and under-delivering in the blockchain space. Success will find those who implement their solutions, at scale, within the existing world of business.
You’re talking to a colleague who has little to no knowledge of blockchain and you explain to them that if a new system was built correctly; with the inherent aspects of an immutable database, encryption, and the option to be an open or closed ecosystem.. that there could be a radical shift in the way that we conduct routine business.
If they understand what impact your proposal truly holds, questions start to arise. One may ponder … “So, if that structure exists, wouldn’t it be perfect for universities and organizations to confer credentials electronically and immutably to their members and students?” And they may even surmise that the results would be a higher confidence among alumni networks as to “who’s really one of us online and who’s posing?”.
Bingo. Their gears start to turn and a whole new world of possibilities opens up.
As the tenants of blockchain technology become more widely understood, enterprise-level organizations will realize practical uses for blockchain within their daily business at an increasing frequency.
In the last two years we have witnessed successful blockchain-based SaaS providers/consultants and we’ve also seen complete ICO charades which never intended to build long-term coin/platform utility. What separates the two is a focus on the actual practical application into a specific industry.
One success to look at would be Ripple — with their enormous war chest of digital assets that could have undertaken hundreds of industry applications using blockchain technology, the founders and top brass seized on a single promising application: cross-border transactions. Ripple, unlike so many other “projects” that popped up in the crypto space, dedicated themselves to one cause with laser focus and built a team that could deliver functional tech that solves a real world problem on a large scale.
As more blockchain ecosystems come online, it’s important to remember that the ICO model has been invalidated since there was no accountability to build a business. Coins front-ran a business plan by years but it only took weeks for some founders to take the money and head to an early retirement. Funding and accountability for blockchain projects will come via real business deals, not speculative gambling.
Here at Unification, we’re creating one such ecosystem. We’ve recently made an announcement that we are working in the Electronic Health Record space as an initial real world use case. The mission we’ve undertaken with Latin American Institute of Health — Unification’s EHR client — is to provide an “accountable care” program whereby the two million patients in their network are put at the center of their personal data.
We realized the only way this could be served is with a hybrid approach to a blockchain implementation — exactly what our WRKChains are designed to do. Of course, focusing on turning use cases into real-world working tech like this puts a premium value on Unification’s services and ecosystem but what it really does is focus the team on a shared vision to serve the EHR space and create solutions that advance blockchain adoption— and maybe even humanity.
Of All Industries, Why Pursue EHR?
I sign off with a final story that explains part of the reason.. Several years ago my colleague flew from Brazil to Panama for a conference. The Panamanian government requires that anyone flying from Brazil to Panama directly must have proof of Yellow Fever vaccination. The ONLY proof they will accept is a certificate stamped by a clinic with the date, the person’s name, national id, gender and date of birth. No certificate; no Panama. No exceptions. You’ve probably already guessed that my colleague made it all the way to Panama City only to be stopped by Immigration on a spot check for his Yellow Fever document. He had a photo of it on his cellphone sent by a family member but to no avail... this wasn’t enough “proof” for the officials. He missed the conference, spent 8 hours with Immigration and was deported home.
At the time, my company would have benefited greatly from having a digital vaccination wallet — encrypted and validated by an immutable blockchain — that could be accepted by foreign governments as a replacement for a physical vaccination card. The days of that becoming the new reality are not far away.
As a real-world use case, Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a space that is poised to greatly benefit from innovative solutions and Unification is here to be the bridge for enterprise blockchain adoption..
If you’re interested in what we’re building at Unification, there are several ways to get learn more.
The best place to start is our Telegram group, where I and other members of the Unification team are present to help answer any questions you may have about the project.
More details can also be found on our website and our Medium publication.
If you’d like to go deep, I highly recommend you dive into our white paper.