The introduction of blockchain technology is one of the most encouraging developments.
In a survey of 4,800 business executives from around the world, 66% of respondents said they thought innovation would have the greatest impact on economic growth in the ensuing 30 years.
Young professionals must understand the driving forces behind scientific and technical growth, anticipate the new sectors they will enable, and predict how they will change today’s jobs to prosper (or survive) in this continuously changing market.
Here is a quick explanation of what blockchain technology is, why it was created, what makes it special, and how it might change the world in the future.
The blockchain technology definition
Databases are used by people to store and transmit information.
However, these databases are owning by businesses who have access to the private information you store on their platforms (like bank details, financial transactions, and private messages).
They’ve created a platform that stores and transports data in a novel way and enables you to keep it safe since people don’t trust these companies to keep their data secure or private.
Blockchain is the name of this technology, and its prospective uses have many intrigued.
What drove the need for blockchain technology
- The most popular type of database used by computers to store and arrange information is a relational database.
- Similar to fancy Excel spreadsheets, relational databases organise information into many tables with columns and rows. Then, these tables are kept on hard drives that servers with internet connectivity can access.
- The contact book app on your phone is a fantastic example of technology created using a relational database.
- It makes clear, logical connections between particular phone numbers and various contacts in your address list.
- Suffescom Solutions Inc. is one of the leading Blockchain Consulting Firms.
- A particular command called a request can be used to add to, update, remove, or retrieve data from a relational database.
- However, when more material is uploaded to a database and more people attempt to obtain it, computers must work harder to handle the escalating volume of queries made of them.
- Businesses that maintain databases must spend money creating, building, and installing faster, fancier computers – as well as new software to keep your data safe from hackers – to meet the rising demand on their hard drives and computer processors.
- It makes natural that businesses would want to monetize the volume of information they’ve acquired in their databases given the cost involved in establishing and maintaining IT infrastructure at this scale.
- One common and lucrative strategy for doing this is selling user data to advertisers or businesses looking to maintain a competitive edge.
- In order to conveniently use software for free, millions of users are prepared to trade their privacy, and as reported by CNN, this has resulted in data becoming a $300 billion industry every year.
- A secure, private, and decentralised option for storing and transmitting data between computers is blockchain, which can be compared to a very secure database that isn’t owned by anyone.
The workings of blockchain technology
- Before computers, people kept copies of important documents in bank vaults, treasure chests, or steel safes.You would translate each of these documents into a private language that only you could comprehend as an additional security safeguard.
- Even if someone broke into your bank vault and took your belongings, they couldn’t decode your coded communications.Blockchain gives this idea a boost.
- Imagine that you and a million of your friends have the ability to make copies of all your files, encrypt them with specialised software, and store them in each other’s online virtual safes (computers).
- With 999,999 backup copies of your files, your network of friends can still access them even if a hacker breaks into, steals from, or destroys your computer.
- That’s blockchain in a nutshell.
- Special files, stored on regular computers, linking together across a network, or transmitted over the internet, encrypted with software so that only specific persons can read them.
- The records—known as ledgers—record your data in a certain manner. Personal computers that share processing power, storage capacity, and bandwidth are referred to as nodes or blocks.
- The network is known as a chain, and it consists of a number of blocks that enable computers to cooperate and exchange ledgers with one another (hence the name, blockchain).
There are five traits of blockchain technology
Let’s now look more deeply at these various blockchain components.
The technology consists of five main parts, some of which are challenging to comprehend, but I’ve tried to make each one understandable.
Distributed ledgers: A database that exists in millions of copies and is constantly updated by everyone connecting to a network.
Imagine a massive spreadsheet that is accessible to all users online.
The spreadsheet has digitised records of several items (like the value of a currency, files like PDFs or images, or even a historical list of different transactions).
Peer-to-peer network: A group of computers that enables devices to pool their resources and work more quickly on a variety of activities.
A type of encryption software is a hash function.
A hash scrambles a message (like a transaction record) so it’s hard to read without a signature or key (an instruction that lets the right people unscramble the message again).
Immutability: Immutability is a security feature that prevents unauthorised changes or alterations to data.
Pseudonymity: Allows users to choose whether they wish to share their identity with other users of the network or stay anonymous.
How blockchain technology may alter how young professionals are employed
- Blockchain technology has numerous uses, according to the MIT Sloan Management study.
- It promises to improve the workplace and workers’ lives, but it also threatens our government system and global business practises.Businesses no longer need to rely on third-party platforms (like banks) to do business with consumers.Companies will become more self-sufficient as a result, and internal financial departments may become a possibility.
- The shopping experience will also become more immediate and flexible.
- Blockchain is revolutionising healthcare by allowing patients to have more control over their private medical data, a hospital to streamline and share it, and everyone to safeguard it.
- This much is unquestionably true for every industry that gathers and shares private information about individuals between professionals or departments.
Employee remuneration – Blockchain will simplify employee payments and eliminate the high costs frequently associated with compensating teams who work remotely.
It follows that businesses will face fewer financial obstacles to global expansion, increasing the likelihood that you’ll interact with colleagues and departments from around the globe.
Enhanced democracy – Even good administrations can be corrupted, elections can be rigged, and eventually citizens lose faith in democracy.
We may be able to vote using blockchain in a way that is immune to outside interference or the impact of corruption.
Conclusion
The workplace will keep changing as a result of innovation.
Young professionals must therefore stay up with technology advancements, comprehend how they function, and foresee how they may transform the organisations and economies in which they work.