India needs to prioritise blockchain tech ​for digital transformation

CHENNAI: Recently, I spoke (virtually) at an event and I witnessed a country ushering in a new dawn in its digital transformation journey. The event was the Laotian government’s inaugural Ministerial Conference on Blockchain 4.0 Digital Transformation led by Laotian Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone.

For those wondering where on earth is Laos? Laos is a Southeast Asian country known for mountainous terrain, French colonial architecture, hill tribe settlements and Buddhist monasteries. Vientiane is it capital. But more important is that it has recently taken considerable strides in incorporating blockchain and digital technology.

The key focus was on accelerating Laos’ digital transformation through the use of digital technologies. Notably, it pioneered the notion of Blockchain 4.0, highlighting the need of open collaboration and promoting Laos as a driver and beneficiary of the expanding global digital landscape.

The conference also outlined many short-term goals for Laos’ digital economy development, including using digital technology to generate new fiscal revenue, strengthen foreign exchange reserves. The event advocated the development of a ‘Blockchain Technology Transformation Committee’, which would be in charge of guaranteeing legal compliance and crafting legislation related to the digital economy. Now is India ready for a transformation such as this?

Effective blockchain implementation will simply hasten India’s digitisation. Through programs such as Aadhar, UPI, Digilocker, and e-Sign, the government has successfully laid the groundwork for digital infrastructure for recording and sharing data during the last few years. With a well-established foundation for data collection already in place, increasing initiatives to integrate blockchain with existing apps will simply aid in the digitisation process.

The success of blockchain in the creation and management of virtual digital assets, demonstrates that this technology has already ushered in a revolution in money and finance. Its use as distributed ledger technology can be used to implement financing, payment systems, and internal interactions. Blockchain will be increasingly employed in the financial sector over the years for solutions relating to business intelligence and business analytics when combined with other digital transformation technologies such as artificial intelligence.

Further, the communication infrastructure is being rebuilt as a result of digital transformation: The Internet of Things connects all types of devices, machine-to-machine connectivity improves industrial output, and cloud-based services provide ubiquitous access to data, information, and applications. This advancement offers businesses several options to fundamentally revamp production and work operations. The ever-increasing levels of connection provide businesses with ever-increasing hurdles when it comes to handling this data. New blockchain platforms that use a leaner proof of stake validation can securely and transparently manage the massive amounts of data created in digital transformation business operations.

Blockchain has the potential to have a significant impact on social structures and economies, and its invention can be likened to earlier revolutionary breakthroughs such as electricity, the steam engine, the computer, and the internet.

The benefits of expanded blockchain adoption are unprecedented; but, various elements will play a significant role in accelerating its expansion, and blockchain awareness and education should become a part of the educational system.

This is just the beginning and as technology advances, blockchain will be integrated more deeply into our digital infra, allowing us to have a more dependable, efficient, and a secure digital environment for the transformation has just begun and this is the right time to integrate this emerging technology.