Op-Ed: Blockchain, the road to an efficient state
Information is the newest and most valuable asset of an organization, in addition to talent. Public and private companies embrace this through real-time-data that allows them to learn the immediate status of its operation, take corrective actions (if necessary) and act proactively to become more efficient.
What makes it even more relevant for decision makers, is that it considers the company and market’s reality and experience.
Blockchain’s key promise is to transform the way business is done by offering secure, transparent and efficient interactions, considering unnecessary intermediaries are eliminated and historical information is unchangeable.
Oracle estimates that in 2027, 10 percent of the Global Gross Domestic Product will be using blockchain and its value will reach $176 billion by 2025.
Every time an interaction between a citizen and an entity, either public or private, takes place, a significant amount of data is generated and can be used to develop strategies that help solve local and/or national needs.
The infamous ‘emerging technologies’ such as Big Data, analytics, Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain, just to mention a few, are a great opportunity for States to increase their operational efficiency, reduce costs by using the Cloud and increase the levels of transparency.
blockchain is precisely the new emerging player that enables transactions to be more transparent, since the blocks and chains that make it up are unmodifiable, being a generator of traces, actions and movements that delivers details in each step of the process.
For example, a hospital can store its clinical records in the Cloud for doctors to consult in real time and be prepared for any emergency that arises with a patient, without the need to ask for repetitive data that takes time away from action, risking human lives because of misinformation.
Also, they can now learn the complete process of a medicine, from the elaboration, collection of materials, geographic place of manufacture to the different processes that it went through before arriving at the medical institution. The health sector has long suffered of piracy, and these solutions help reduce the potential for future damages.
In search of a more efficient state
Imagine the government using blockchain systems to control taxes. Accessing the historical information of a citizen will be possible in real time, without the need for intermediaries or bank confirmations to know the status of the same, since the blockchains will contain the necessary information to find even the smallest detail of the user.
This historical information will be unchangeable, so the risk of fraud, evasion or alteration of the data will be minimal, increasing the transparency and effectiveness of the institutions in charge of taxation in the countries.
The bidding processes will also find a technology ally in blockchain, since it allows access to historical documents and progress reports in unmodifiable blocks that become the X-ray with information always available, being in the cloud, to increase transparency.
The procedures that citizens carry out with the state can be simplified, as it is an unmodifiable and integrative platform that in just a few minutes can run a routine task to gather birth records, credit history and properties of each citizen. Gone are the days and the long hours it would take to get one of these documents!
The image of public organizations will benefit from the use of the blockchain, since citizens will have positive experiences when interacting with the State, which improves the perception of the brands and increases the levels of satisfaction of the users.
Author Alfonso López is director for the public sector division in the Caribbean for Oracle.
