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If one were to simply compare the potential of Distributed Ledger Technology, a single and relatively simple cog in the mammoth blockchain machine in a non-crypto setting, it’s use in currencies seems fairly bland.

Promise and Potential. Beyond Bitcoin. We’ve harped on the uses of DLT and Smart Contracts for quite some time now. What seemed like a game changer right at the outset, however, seems to have begun its maturity cycle, now long overdue.

Getting straight to the point, a majority of the world still considers Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and other crypto currencies as the sole implementation possibilities of tremendous potential that blockchain had. The “enfant terrible” of global regulators and central banks, was just the proverbial tip of the iceberg. And like every infant, it is growing exponentially to manifest itself as a central theme in business operations like logistics, healthcare and even governance, across the planet.

To speak on enterprise blockchain potential, one needs to look at the report published by Deloitte just last year. Early adopters have had their day in the sun, now it’s time for staid old business establishments, and the trends show they do NOT wish to be left behind. Among enterprises surveyed in the report, 16% plan to invest $10mn or more in blockchain technology, while 23% plan to invest between $5mn and $10mn, and the largest segment planned to invest between $1mn and $5mn all within the next calendar year. The respondents included mostly C suite executives across the United States, UK, Germany, China and nearly half of them were C level executive. By the way, the rest were Vice Presidents and above.

To the skeptics of corporate investment in blockchain technologies and its demise, take that.

A Synchronized Future

Besides, consider for a moment, that blockchain, when combined with several other disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence, 5G and RTLS, could form possibly one of the most potent combinations of technology infrastructure available in the world today, for corporations and governments alike. A trusting world, where trust is not established between people (because they don’t need to be – we know how frail the human mind is) but between systems, processes and self-executing transactions. So without further ado, and a little bit of structural abruptness:

AI and Blockchain

The phenomenal of artificial intelligence has literally started a new era in technology. What used to be a dumb machine taking in inputs and spitting out outputs today, can think, network, recommend, advise, and to every possible thing a human can, at exponentially greater speeds and then in the believably high rate of accuracy. Artificial intelligence use cases that blockchain have the potential to transform every single sector and industry with the combination of a continuously learning infrastructure, zero latency, and unimaginable transaction processing speeds, all with the security and trust of an indelible database, which is secure and virtually uninhabitable. Fintech is leading the way here, with Insurance agencies, banks and payment gateway processing enterprises including mobile applications are now using blockchain technology to transform the way they conduct business with users via decentralized, and in some cases, mobile, applications that are smart, seamlessly integrated, and constantly improving by processing every new transactional data that is entered into the system.

Governance is not far behind, some local and national governing units harnessing the power of using procurement and infrastructure maintenance systems that are AI driven to optimize, while combining the data storage in a private blockchain to ensure permanence and tamper-proof transactional records.

IIOT and Blockchain

This is the big kahuna indeed. The industrial Internet of things is set to disrupt the way the world produces. What it lacks in data security, it makes up in technology compatibility, and rest assured, the data security lockdown in the IIOT sector is imminent. How? This is precisely where blockchain has a tremendous role to play. The combination of Industrial IOT driven production plants, supply chain processes, materials management, materials forecasting, order processing and almost every other imaginable function that can be automated while maintaining data security and smart contract execution, all together, pretty much sum up the sheer power that and IIOT-block chain hybrid can unleash on corporations and governments with State owned production units.

The Knock on the Door

The possibilities with 5G, specifically engineered for an IOT world, are yet to be discovered. Experts and skeptics alike call this another beast in the making. So how would a typical use case for blockchain be? Think about the TPS processing capabilities of every blockchain, public, private, unpermissioned or permissioned, increasing in exponents – geometrically progressing from the modern day sluggish networks struggling to keep up with the huge demand for bandwidth. 5G will quite literally, bring to life the super-information-highway that the mainstream media has been talking for decades now. What if blockchain transactions and smart contracts were successfully completed in real-time? The implications for global trade and economies will be well, for lack of a better word, massive.

AI, IIOT, 5G and the one thread that ties them all – the blockchain, in all its forms and functionalities.

Use cases will only get you so far. Getting your hands dirty in the industry is the only way to realize your true potential in this exciting new era. Still thinking about that professional blockchain certification that’s valued worldwide? You’re already behind.