Enterprises have been digitising for some 30 years — but artificial intelligence (AI) takes transformation to the next level. It is no wonder why: AI enables businesses to reach their potential at last. With such rapid and dramatic change comes uncertainty, however.
How can you be sure that your digital technologies are working together as they should? How do you know that the results provided are based on reliable data and that your data and devices are tamper-free? The answer, for a growing number of enterprises: blockchain.
This was one of the key findings of a new report by the BSV Association focusing on the role of blockchain in safeguarding data and streamlining transactions. The report highlights how blockchain technology opens a window on trust.
Using it, enterprises can see clearly where data originates, where it has travelled, and how it has changed along the way. Blockchain’s transparent, secure, and immutable digital ledger establishes reliability and confidence that a business’s devices and data are working as they should.
A bold new world
Trust is of the essence in business, but getting a firm foothold can feel difficult when everything seems to constantly change. In the digital realm, we see exponential growth in:
- Connected identities: Digital identities and data sources—human and machine—have exploded in number and type as online interactions proliferate and accelerate. Each identity has unique characteristics, attributes, and privileges.
- Transactions: AI now plays an important role in automating transactions by performing processes that humans previously completed. Each transaction produces more data.
- Digitised processes: For enterprises to realise efficiencies they need to digitise certain physical processes — using generative AI (GenAI) for customer service and upselling, for instance, and incorporating extended reality applications.
One reason for the new digital transformation wave we’re seeing now: economic opportunity. Enterprises have invested heavily in GenAI these past 18 months and with good reason. Deploying GenAI tools can quickly increase worker productivity by 10% to 20% or more, a report from Boston Consulting Group shows AI adoption could also relieve, at last, ongoing tech talent shortages. Doing more with fewer people could bring significant cost savings.
A matter of trust
Until now, enterprise leaders have tended to rely on physical interactions and tangible proofs to verify identity: signing a contract in person; viewing an official stamp, seal, or photo identification; accepting a cash payment, and more. Today’s digital technologies complicate the trust issue. What happens when IoT devices are interacting, their exchanges not involving humans at all? How can we trust an image or voice when AI use has blurred the distinction between “real” and “fake”?
The dangers, on the other hand, are very real. AI-generated images of an “explosion” at the US Pentagon caused a dip in the stock market in 2023. Data misuse, security breaches, and misinformation: these pose thorny challenges to digital trust, and the threats increase with each technology your enterprise uses. And yet, ensuring that your devices, solutions, and systems are trustworthy — that they are secure, that their transactions are transparent and verifiable, and that they can handle their workloads — is critical for doing business today.
Enterprises struggle with trust in four key areas:
- Trust in identities: Ensuring that the digital identities with which they interact are authentic and verifiable. Blockchain acts as an immutable and transparent source of truth for trusted identity verification, as its transaction record, or “ledger”, is unalterable.
- Trust in ownership: Confirming Intellectual Property (IP), copyright, and ownership of digital assets, information, and data. The blockchain ledger serves as a digital trail so you know where and when every bit and byte comes from.
- Trust in data: Guaranteeing that information remains unchanged and traceable from its source. Blockchain’s transparent window into each interaction means you can verify your data’s integrity and use it with confidence.
- Trust in systems: Reducing the number of checks required to prevent data transfer errors. Blockchain enables trusted data sharing in a non-trusted environment. For example, it can help with attributing content to its source, thereby ensuring trust in automated systems that make use of the data.
