For example, a firm can create invoices that get paid automatically once a truck delivers a product to a distribution center or share certificates that send stockholders dividends once profits reach a certain level.

And since smart contracts on blockchain can automate mechanical tasks (confirming data, enforcing contracts, processing payments, and more), employees can free up time for more interesting work.

“Blockchain can have tremendous benefits for the employee experience,” says Satten. “If an organization’s enterprise architecture harnesses DLT and smart contracts, and makes use of customized web-based applications alongside customized UIs, it can massively cut down on the overall number of systems used. At the same time, it can automate processes, better secure its information, and reduce errors. That means employees get an improved user interface with more digitization and operations interoperability, which can significantly impact productivity.”

Blockchain for fundraising

Blockchain technology — in the form of initial coin offerings (ICOs) — can facilitate fundraising for companies as an alternative to the traditional debt or capital funding mechanisms offered by banks, venture capital firms, and private equity firms.

Such an approach is based on tokenization. Here, digital tokens created on a blockchain network are used as an alternative way to denominate value — acting as a substitute for money, for instance.

Because such tokens can be used to represent any kind of tangible asset, they can be applied to a very wide range of business processes. In the real estate sector, innovative use cases include tracking and trading tokenized pieces of a property. Here, the tokens can allow for “fractional ownership,” or the ability for a qualified real estate owner to split up their property and sell off equity stakes.

In the case of ICOs, a company sells a predefined number of digital tokens to the public. Some startups have raised substantial sums by creating and then selling their own digital tokens — technology company EOS, for example, raised $4.2 billion in 2017.

How will blockchain disrupt industries?

Some of the most-cited use cases for blockchain involve the following sectors:

Financial services. Many startups eager to disrupt traditional players deploy blockchain to develop applications that aim, for example, to cut out the number of intermediaries involved in existing transaction processes, such as stock exchanges, cross-border payment networks, and money transfer services.

“Their goal is to reduce complexity and cost. There’s also a major focus on developing blockchain solutions to counter fraud and ensure the integrity of data,” Sandra Ro, CEO of the Global Blockchain Business Council says. “Obviously, all of this has been a big wake-up call for banks and other financial institutions. As they try to understand these developments and their potential impact, we’re seeing them invest in blockchain. They’re setting up internal teams, investing in startups, and creating common initiatives to understand the potential and search for use cases that can be implemented with minimal risk.”

Healthcare. Healthcare startups are exploring ways to use blockchain to streamline the sharing of medical records in a secure way, protect sensitive data from hackers, and give patients more access to — and therefore control over — their information.

Organizations have also been seeking to develop blockchain-based healthcare applications that can deliver such things as anonymized data pools for research companies, and new ways to fight counterfeit drugs.

Food. Some organizations are exploring blockchain-based solutions that bring industries together using entirely new business models. IBM, for example, has set up a blockchain-based food safety initiative with Walmart that brings together growers, processors, distributors, and retailers.

By creating a permanent, shared record of food-system data, the companies involved hope it will be much easier and quicker to trace produce from farm to store. In this way, any investigations into contaminated food can be significantly sped up, while Walmart and its partners also have more efficient ways to authenticate the origin of food and provide insights about the conditions and pathways through which the food traveled. Such an ecosystem of transparency and accountability can help build consumer trust.

“We’re going to see a lot more of this type of cross-cutting action across industries, where companies rally round blockchain technology to create a common data model that can deliver more value to the customer,” says Andrew Conn, Director of Product Design, Emerging Technology at Salesforce. “I believe we’ll get to a place in the near future where we’ll have many different industry coalitions or ‘partner ecosystems’ of this type competing against each other, each with the customer at the center.”

When is blockchain a good fit for your business?

One of the challenges for blockchain’s proponents is that its emergence has been accompanied by levels of hype that, as many commentators point out, aren’t warranted. It’s certainly true the technology is not the solution for every business problem. It's also a complex technology that warrants considerable initial research and thought on how exactly to integrate it into existing processes and technology stacks.

Companies looking to mine its considerable strengths should first ensure they understand the business issue they want to address, and how the technology can help.