How can Blockchain Technology reduce bureaucracy?

• Toshendra Kumar Sharma
• May 17, 2018

Blockchain – a universal technology with a multitude of benefits has garnered the attention of the world. Since its inception in 2009 till date, this technology has undergone massive transformation and has expanded its applications from monetary transactions to much more. We now have the use of Blockchain for supply chain management, healthcare, real estate, shipping, etc. Well, in this blog I will be highlighting the use of Blockchain to end bureaucracy.

One of the key ingredients of any economy is –bureaucracy. You can hardly find a nation without the intervention of it. Whether it is about running a business, doing financial transactions or government tender, bureaucracy finds its application in every domain.

In 1944, Ludwig von Mises explained that bureaucracy comes with an opprobrious connotation, it is time consumed and costly affair. And this notion is still prevalent. Whether it is government work or any bank related work, bureaucracy continues to have a strong foothold in all the domain and thus always comes a problem. It further gives rise to many other rills like corruption, delays, cost, etc.

Time and again there people have bee searching for methods which can help them fight it and come up with a system which is more transparent, quick and secure. The Blockchain is considered to be one of the most sought-after technology after its recent developments. Whether it is about transparency or having a system where the information is easily accessible, Blockchain provides it all.

Quick view about Blockchain –

Blockchain, as we all know, is a digital distributed ledger. It’s a platform that runs various transaction on it, and all the information related to transactions gets stored on it. Decentralization is the critical feature of Blockchain which means that the information is not stored at a central location. In case of any problem in the system, you can access the information without any hassle which is not the case with the current system that we are using.

Apart from this, immutability is yet another key feature of Blockchain which makes it an inevitable technology of the future. From storing information to keeping it unalterable, Blockchain does it all with ease ensuring that no one can change the information without validation of the nodes in the network. ‘

From the current picture of Blockchain technology, it appears that its an entirely safe system which is full-proof. However, there are areas of concern which needs to be addressed but, here I will focus on the use of Blockchain to end bureaucracy.

How will Blockchain put an end to bureaucracy?

Many businesses are trying to proselytize Blockchain to circumvent back-office work which consumes a lot of time and grab into the profit margins. Banks believe that if they optimally use the Blockchain technology they can cut down $20 billion from the running expense. Thus, we may see enhancement in the efficacy of the businesses and other vertical where Blockchain will find the application.

For technical inefficiency:  Well, this is a key aspect of any government office. Lack of technical efficiency, not only consumes a lot of time but delays various processes, for example, the reconciliation process. With the use of Blockchain, not only we can streamline the process, but at the same time, we can also automate everything.

Let me take an example of how Blockchain can act as a savior in real estate. When the records related to change of property ownership and land rights are done in that case, an individual buys the property. In a typical scenario, the local government authorities store this information either in paper or on the system. In case there is a loss of information from the government office how would it be able to fetch the entire details since the entire information is present in the centralized repository.

Let me bring Blockchain into the picture, with this technology; one can use smart contracts. With the help of these contracts one can store the information, exchange it and all this will be done on Blockchain platform making the information easily visible to everyone in the system.

Many nations are now working towards the use of Blockchain, here are a few examples:

We know that China is working to promote the Blockchain startups followed by the UK. India is also not far behind; the use Blockchain for real estate record keeping is being tested in Andhra Pradesh. With all this and much more happening in the field of the Blockchain, we can say that Blockchain is here to stay and will emerge as a technology which is going to transform the world.