Parija Rangnekar – Page 3

The term- ‘Blockchain’ was first coined in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto- an individual, or a group of people- its identity is not known till date. Blockchain was actually invented for serving as the public transaction ledger for Bitcoin cryptocurrency. But today, Blockchain solutions are solving several complex challenges for multiple industries. Blockchain Projects range from improving capital markets to data sharing/securing to seamlessly performing international payments. In this blog, I will discuss with you different types of Blockchain projects existing in the decentralized economy, along with a few basics of Blockchain technology and some vital benefits of Blockchain app development. Let’s get started.

Basics of Blockchain Technology

Simply put, Blockchain refers to the technology in which chains of blocks are created for carrying important data securely. This technology enables to timestamp digital documents so that altering or backdating them isn’t possible. Also, it helps the Blockchain app developers resolve the double records problem without requiring a central server.

This technology is also called Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). It uses decentralization and cryptographic hashing. It is based on three concepts: Blocks, Nodes, and Miners. Conceptual working of Blockchain is explained in the below steps:

Transaction is initiated
Blocks are created for the transaction using the mining process
Blocks are sent to every node on the network
Nodes validate the transaction
Nodes are awarded for proof of work
Existing Blockchain embraces this newly generated blocks
Finally, the transaction gets completed

Potential Advantages of Blockchain App Development

The forward-thinking solutions provided by Blockchain app development will be virtually impacting almost all the sectors within a few years. This underlying technology is here to stay for decades to come as it offers advantages like the below:

Open-source
Easy to use
High-speed Transactions
Decentralization and Immutability
Elevated Traceability and Transparency
Lesser Frauds, Security Threats and Risks, etc.
Auditability
Top-grade Security
Better Accessibility to Important Data
Automatic reconciliation of Accounts
Improved Efficiency
Higher Integrity
Reliability and Trustworthiness

With the increasing demand for Blockchain technology, businesses are trying to adopt it in various forms. Different types of blockchain projects are coming up to keep abreast with the trending technology.

Categories of Blockchain projects

‘Fear of Missing Out’ (FOMO) Projects

The FOMO projects, as their names depict, are the ones initiated by companies to be seen as a competitive organization following the current trends and does not fall behind in the business world. These Blockchain Projects are usually led by single companies, either used for in-house applications or with a few limited partners. They are mostly used as a marketing act. These companies do not have the adept knowledge on how Blockchain can be best employed for varying projects. Though they might not create much value but they are not always useless. They represent the companies as modern and futuristic, so the chance of getting prospective customers increases.

However, the companies going with such projects must be aware of ‘FOMO backlash.’ It means that if the project is poorly planned and fails in the long term, the company’s reputation can be at stake.

Opportunistic Projects

These kinds of projects are usually meant to solve issues related to record-keeping or any known problems. These projects provide long-term benefits to the companies even when they are not operating for some time. But looking at the downside of these projects, the companies may lose control over contracts and data later.

One of the examples related to Opportunistic Projects is the creation of the Australian Securities Exchange for streamlining financial trading. Another example is the project developed by the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) for regulating records from credit-default swaps is for the US financial system.

Trojan Horse Projects

In this category of projects, one significant player like a dominant supply-chain participant, or a small group, or a digital giant builds a Blockchain project and invites other ecosystem participants for employing it. They come with a strong technological foundation and are meant to address the common and wide-reaching issues in a certain industry. These projects look quite attractive and are backed by a brand. But such projects may require the users to share their sensitive info, their company’s data, etc., and thus, transfer the control which may result in consolidation of the market for the main owner of Blockchain.

A food-tracking Blockchain system is a good example of a Trojan Horse project. It takes lesser time and effort comparatively to decide the point at which the food items were replaced/adulterated, the person responsible for this, and its further prevention. It allows accessing of the records to the users in real-time. But the requirement is that participants need to share their personal details on the network. This can be at times risky for the participants as they become dependent on owner’s technology and bound by their contract terms.

Evolutionary Blockchain Projects

Blockchain projects in this archetype are developed in order to evolve over time so as to utilize tokens with decentralized governance. As compared to the trojan horse project category, the business currencies in evolutionary type projects can trade at a lower risk level comparatively for the participants.

There is an example for these type of projects that comes from UEFA – the central committee for European football. This committee works with two Swiss technology companies namely- TIXnGO and SecuTix for the development of an evolutionary blockchain platform that provides a safer and equitable market for selling football tickets. In this project, token is created for each ticket so that all the purchases, transfers of each ticket can be tracked along with owner details.

Blockchain Native Solutions

This too is another kind of project that business leaders focus upon. They are a preferred choice of several start-ups or innovated even by teams of existing firms for disrupting an existing business model or for developing new market opportunities. They may start with some different facilities and perspectives, but eventually, they are expected to move in the direction of decentralized governance and tokenization. However, these solutions come with huge currency risks. As a result, businesses that are ready to experiment and manage their own data, prefer Blockchain Native Solutions.

The gaming and Education industries have been working upon such projects. Enjin is an example of this project type in the gaming sector. In the education sector, Woolf University, also known as ‘decentralized Airbnb for degree courses’, is the best-cited example.

Are You Interested in Building a Top-Class Website or Mobile App?

Concluding Views:

Blockchain technology has emerged as a new-age solution to address numerous business challenges that include data sharing and workflows. Blockchain solutions are not just limited to cryptocurrency today. They are applicable to several industries like the healthcare industry for sharing the data securely, in the transportation industry for real-time operations, in real estate processing, in the voting mechanism, for cross-border payments, for tax regulation and compliance, for food safety, and much more. So if you are thinking of building an impactful software application using Blockchain app development services, this blog would prove to be useful.

This is it for now. I hope this read was insightful.

What are your views on this technology? Which type of Blockchain project have you worked upon?

Do share with us in the comments section below.

IoT (Internet of Things) is one of those technological marvels of the modern era that has digitally transformed the Healthcare sector by introducing smart healthcare apps. These healthcare IoT applications have helped the medical industry to overcome the existent roadblocks and limitations in its functioning. IoT App Development Companies have empowered the practitioners, patients, and service providers to unfold new horizons. This has resulted in simplified access to medical facilities through remote communication and reduced mortality rate on account of avant-garde treatment methodologies. Needless to say, the rate of adoption of IoT App Solutions has sky-rocketed and an upward demand curve has been observed.

Take a look at this interesting statistical data released by Statistica, indicating the estimated size of the IoT Healthcare market (in billion US $) between 2016 and 2025.

Fortune Business Insights predicts that the IoT in Healthcare market size will soar up to USD 176.82 Billion by the end of 2026.

In this blog, I have penned down how IoT in Healthcare has revolutionized the fundamental tenets of this domain and the immense benefits of IoT Application Development reaped by the patients, doctors, and service providers unanimously.

IoT in a nutshell

Internet of Things comprises of a network of devices and software applications, interconnected via computer networks and wireless communication channels. This ingenious eco-system is meant for collecting and sharing real-time data. Data is stored in cloud platforms and can be remotely accessed by authorized users from any part of the globe. IoT in Healthcare has worked wonders in domains like telehealth, mHealth, telemedicine, etc. Let’s dive into some of the use cases in the healthcare domain.

Popular Use cases of IoT in Healthcare

Remote patient Diagnoses and Observation

IoT empowered solutions record the necessary health parameters to facilitate remote patient diagnoses and monitoring. This is one of the important features of IoT in telemedicine apps.

Doctor-patient consultations take place through live audio and video call, and other advanced communication channels, without the need for patients to pay a visit to the hospital. IoT powered external devices such as digital stethoscopes, oximeters, etc are being used by patients during digital telemedicine consultations.

IoT activity monitoring devices such as heart rate monitoring cuffs, glucometers, pulse meters, etc. used by the patients enable the doctors to remotely observe the health of elderly patients and those with chronic conditions. The data obtained from these devices aid the physicians to identify the correct course of treatment for patients.

Mobile Health and Wellness

IoT mobile app development has elevated wellness to a completely new level. Wearables like Apple watches, Fitbits, etc transmit patient’s vital health parameters through Bluetooth, Wifi, GPRS Networks and display the results in the smartphones. This proves immensely beneficial in keeping a track of the body vitals and other wellness parameters such as sleep patterns, body temperature, heart rate, blood sugar level, activity tracking, etc. and providing real-time data to the patient, their doctors, and caregivers. For example, a Holter monitor device is a wearable that tracks abnormalities in a patient’s heartbeat. This helps in timely preventive care. Click here to gain more insights on wearable technology.

IoT powered ingestible devices

These ingenious ingestible sensors available in the form of pills can be swallowed and it remains inside the human body and stay at a particular spot and sends data to mobile applications. The sensors embedded inside these pills detect drug doses taken and missed by the patient. Some of these pills have an in-built camera that provides visibility of the internal organs. Thus, ingestible devices prevent life-threatening conditions.

Emergency handling

IoT facilitates the accurate collection of patient data in case of medical emergencies and transmission of this data in real-time to the Emergency Response medical staff. This allows the ER staff to stay prepared while the patient is being brought to the hospital and no time is wasted after the patient’s arrival.

Aiding surgeries

IoT powered tools and applications provide handy assistance during surgeries and in handling post-surgery care. The IoT sensors accumulate data, transmit it, and analyze the same, resulting in finding out even the tiniest problem, and thereby preventing surgical complications.

Efficient Tracking of Patients, Staff, and Inventory

Smart IoT healthcare solutions contribute in the following ways:

Wireless ID cards for staff and patients enhance security, effectively manage admissions, and simplify staff management.
RFID tags are used to track patients such as babies and elderly patients with Alzheimer’s disease and even staff members in case of urgency.
IoT integrates with Real-time location systems (RTLS) to manage the assets of healthcare enterprises. It employs BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) and iBeacon to track supplies in the operating rooms and inventory.

Virtual Monitoring of medical equipment

The contemporary healthcare services require avant-garde software and hardware equipment and their continuous monitoring, to prevent them from system failures and cyber-attacks. IoT powered solutions virtually monitor them and provide alerts to the medical staff if some anomaly is detected.

Managing Pharmacy

Managing the drugs in a hospital and transferring the same safely to storage facilities is a herculean task with chances of errors. Pharmacies managed by IoT application enable faster delivery of medicines and takes care of drug-preservation issues while transfer.

Handling insurance procedures

Insurance companies leverage IoT devices to validate claims and detect fraudulent practices with the help of the data captured by these devices. Such devices also enhance the transparency between insurance providers and customers regarding processes like pricing, underwriting, handling claims, and assessing risks.

Architecting an IoT Environment in healthcare

Steps to be followed by Digital healthcare service providers for the implementation of IoT are as follows:

Deploying devices possessing sensors, monitors, actuators, camera systems, actuators, and detectors to accumulate data.
Conversion of received data to the digital format and store the same in a data center.
Managing and analyzing the medical data with the help of data analytics based on which the correct course of action is decided.

Key Advantages of IoT powered Healthcare IT services

Easy access to healthcare facilities

Remote doctor monitoring and consultation facilities make healthcare and wellness easily accessible to patients with less mobility, the ones residing in remote areas with no hospitals nearby, and the super-busy professionals who hardly find time to visit the clinic. Moreover, the patients have a plethora of options at their disposal while choosing doctors.

Misdiagnosis of diseases

IoT system with the help of computer vision, sensors can collect data from several IoT devices and leverages advanced analytics enabling providers to know the course of the disease and thus avoid the wrong diagnosis of diseases. Faster and error-free diagnoses of diseases, continuous patient monitoring, and proactive treatment methodologies are some of the major gains for patients opting for digital healthcare services.

Lesser negligence and better adherence to treatment plans

Thanks to the IoT healthcare monitoring solutions encourage patients to stick to their treatment procedures and help the doctors to stay informed about the patient’s condition without much ado.

Operational Flexibility

Online diagnoses with the help of IoT Mobile apps allows doctors to enjoy flexible schedules without having to visit the clinic in case of non-emergencies.

Lesser crowd in hospital spaces

Digitally smart healthcare centers can do away with over-crowded waiting rooms, and as such can manage with lesser spaces and fewer administrative staff. Furthermore, the chances of healthcare staff getting infected with contagious diseases lessen.

Cost-efficiency

IoT healthcare solutions enable doctors to scale up the patient count by diagnosing more patients in a day.
On account of digital real-time consultation and monitoring, patients save on the cost by avoiding unnecessary hospital visits, longer hospital stays, and readmissions.

Augments Brand value

Implementing IoT powered smart solutions and motivating the patients to adopt these technologies enhances the brand value of a company and provides them a competitive edge over others and improves overall patient satisfaction too.