Capabilities of smart contracts that will transform the way we operate
Times, they are changing. This is an interesting era for the world which is on the verge of a massive industrial revolution that is set to change the norms of living yet again. Accelerated by the pandemic, we as a society have crossed over to the future where the world as we knew it is over, and we all feel fine. Self-executing, business automation applications are the backbone of the new age of the growing industrial organism. Decentralisation of traditional systems is changing the way we understand norms rapidly, thanks to great leaps taken in the development of blockchain technology. Another gift of blockchain technology along with cryptocurrency is smart contracts that essentially are protocols that digitally facilitate the verification, control & execution of any digital agreement. Making middlemen obsolete, smart contracts are now defining and automating the rules and penalties around a deal that allow people to work independently. The overhead savings from smart contracts can be up to US$ 15–20 billion a year by this year. While blockchain acts as a database, it helps smart contracts compute conditionally on an “if/then” basis.
The simple act of having digital signatories in these smart contracts has fundamentally changed the industries across the board, especially in the fintech sector where distributed ledgers may soon become the standard for managing big volumes of transactions.
The smart use
Smart contracts can pivot a lot of things once implemented, especially the voting system making it less susceptible to manipulation. Not only that, but more voters can also make the ballot without having to bother with a long process and even vote in their jurisdiction remotely and safely. That in India, can diminish the willingness to abstain because of the protected ledgers to tampering. Smart contract encryption can also help the health management system assist their patients with better care delivery while ensuring patient privacy. All service receipts can be stored automatically as proof of service moreover, supervision of medicine and compliance can be carried without a hitch.
In Industry 4.0, supply chains will no longer be subjected to humungous and seldom traceable paper trails. Risks will reduce dramatically when all information from the shop floor to inventories becomes easily traceable, workflows streamline, and payments become easier to log. Speaking of payments, blockchain is already making strides in the case of insurance claims, financial error checking, routing money as appropriate, bookkeeping while keeping the security tight.
Smart contracts are also a great way of keeping stakeholders informed in a transparent way and encourage autonomy as they do not require brokers. All documents are stored multiple times which makes data loss virtually impossible. Not only that, but they also save time to effect along with accuracy that may not be the gold feature of manual form filling.
Tomorrow’s deal
Smart contracts are yet nascent and complex but can alter human behaviour with real-time auditing and risk assessments. However, from Nick Szabo’s ‘Bit Gold’ in 1998, the technology has come a long way. In an entrepreneurial scenario, smart contracts can unlock spaces for innovation and indicate the market temperature is just right for the right product at the right time. The countdown on the future becoming the present has automatically begun.
