Security threats are ever-changing. Digital transformations have exposed us to a never-ending stream of new technologies, business models, and cybersecurity risks.
Many organizations struggle to keep up with the latest security threats, let alone anticipate them.
Changing the way we think about security is critical for businesses today and in the future.
Small businesses can take advantage of digital transformation to improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, and become more competitive.
With a small budget, organizations can implement a digital strategy to help the company long term. In this article, we’ll discuss ways small businesses can take advantage of blockchain security to harden their security and improve their sustainability.
Using smart contracts
Blockchain technology offers various benefits for companies when organizing and securing their business processes. With blockchain, organizations can create contracts that run programs automatically.
Targeting clients, manufacturing, or employees, these ‘smart legal contracts’ execute terms and conditions by coding them into the blockchain.
For example, an organization could create a smart contract to track inventory in real time. This would make it easier to ensure that an item is always at the correct location while also increasing efficiency by eliminating manual processes.
In a worst-case scenario, such as an earthquake or a localized flood that could physically damage stocks at different locations worldwide, organizations will know immediately where those damaged items were found and should be able to act quickly to prevent further harm and loss of revenue.
In another example, contracts between manufacturers and their clients can require customers to confirm purchase orders before paying for items received – otherwise, the payment will be withheld. These are only two examples of how organizations can use smart contracts for secure transactions without leaving control over verification to third parties or employees.
The security benefits of cryptocurrency
The security benefits of cryptocurrency go well beyond blockchain security. Cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, are becoming more mainstream. However, many people don’t yet understand the security benefits of using cryptocurrency in business.
One way to take advantage of such security benefits is to accept cryptocurrency as payment. Users who need high security, privacy, and ownership will likely value the ability to use cryptocurrency to conduct business.
This can be particularly beneficial for online retailers. Cryptocurrency can be used to secure payments by enabling merchants to keep track of how much each customer has spent. It can also be used to keep track of assets, such as goods in a supply chain, and track the quantities of goods as they move.
Modernized accounting processes
When it comes to financial reporting and statement generation, it is crucial to be aware of the newest technologies that can help these processes run more efficiently and more securely. Cryptocurrency is one example of innovations in accounting processes.
It can greatly facilitate financial reporting by providing a method for converting and moving assets, making it possible to get as much information as you can into one place.
For example, cryptocurrency can be used with barcodes or RFID tags on goods in a supply chain. That way, you’ll know exactly where your products are at any time and what condition they are in.
In addition to tracking assets, cryptocurrency can also help improve processes around information disclosure and compliance with regulations.
This is mainly because there are always a few people who may not be able to participate in the blockchain for one reason or another. In many cases, these people are required by law to disclose certain things to legal authorities.
For example, if you are a U.S.-based organization planning on doing business with a foreign government, you must submit an annual report either directly to it or through the U.S. government’s Commerce Department’s EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval) system.
Integrating blockchain and AI
AI is another technology that has found its way into business – and not just the kind where a robot tells you what your next purchase should be. Instead, AI encompasses many technologies, including machine learning, natural language processing, and neural networks.
Blockchain and AI bring several benefits to organizations. First, the smart contracts that are part and parcel of blockchain tech can perform much more in-depth analyses of data than is possible with a traditional contract. This allows for better automation of tasks or internal processes and much faster execution.
Additionally, blockchain and AI can significantly reduce costs by automating processes and internal procedures while increasing auditing accuracy and security.
In some cases, auditors and regulators may not be able to manually process the data being required by law into the legal forms that they need it in. By using AI on the blockchain side to automate these forms within smart contracts, these issues can be resolved.
Smarter storage solutions
One final way to take advantage of blockchain security is to consider smarter storage solutions. Most organizations rely on a combination of centralized and decentralized storage technologies.
As the names suggest, centralized storage provides centralized data storage and control, while decentralized storage is decentralized and distributed. However, many organizations are seeing that a hybrid approach is more optimal.
Hybrid storage allows for critical data stores to be decentralized while still maintaining the ability to manage and secure them centrally.
This can be accomplished using trusted Cloud storage with smart distributed hashes or by using blockchain-enabled data warehouses. These solutions provide secure decentralized storage with a centralized legacy system for controls and auditing.
Conclusion
Business owners can take advantage of blockchain security to improve the sustainability of their organizations.
By implementing blockchain security, they can improve the transparency of their operations, eliminating the need for human error, while having modernized accounting processes and traceable transactions helps organizations comply with regulations, become more efficient with their data, and ensure assets and liabilities are adequately tracked.
This is a guest article written by Jori Hamilton. The author’s views are entirely her own and may not reflect the views of IT Governance USA.
