Blockchain for Ledger in Enterprise Applications

[EricBrian]

Hello all. I am new here. I am here for discussion and education. I hope to reach out to you to get a better understanding of ways that blockchain might be used in enterprise applications. How could a blockchain store and process transactions for a corporate general ledger or a large inventory system?

A blockchain is a ledger, perhaps a better way to manage a ledger. An open, permissionless blockchain has the great features of being decentralized with a distributed network of miners providing the muscle to process transactions. Would we want to implement traditional ERP features like general ledger, inventory and order fullfillment on an open blockchain? What would be the incentive for miners to do the work? Would there be a value "coin" so that a community of miners would grow to do the work? Should it be a new, proprietary blockchain just for this customer, or an existing blockchain? Could a blockchain like this piggyback on an existing coin? Could Ethereum be used store, verify and process a company's general ledger transactions? Would this be a cheaper, more secure way to do it? Would this beat the cost of using a traditional ERP system with a local database maintained by the company?  

Perhaps for a company to implement their own inventory system or their own accounting general ledger as a blockchain, it would choose a private, permissioned blockchain. However, wouldn't this defeat some of the advantages that bockchain can bring? There would be no crowd mining effort to process transactions. If the company is processing all transactions internally then this would just be a more difficult and resource-intensive way to manage an in-house database.

Thoughts? How can blockchain be used in enterprise applications?

[timerland]

I think we've all seen how blockchain and open ledgers are able to be used to forward industries like the finance sector, internet access, gaming industry and a lot more examples.

I think the ledger is probably one of the most important parts if it, having an open ledgers means a lot more transparency when it comes to transactions and it helps people be more calm.

[joniboini]

Take a look at LTO Network and you'll see how companies can use blockchain for their purpose. Their clients use LTO public blockchain to time-stamp the hash from their private chains iirc.

Several projects also aim to use blockchain to change the way traditional business works, such as time-stamping digital certificates for diploma/bachelor/master degree.

[EricBrian]

Take a look at LTO Network and you'll see how companies can use blockchain for their purpose. Their clients use LTO public blockchain to time-stamp the hash from their private chains iirc.

Thanks. These LTO use cases are interesting. These all follow the "contract between two parties" model. This is the core of what Ethereum was built for I think. Maybe my use cases of "inventory leger" or "general ledger" in an ERP system are simply not valid or reasonable for blockchain.

Taking the LTO use cases as examples, I do have some questions;

• A simple contact between two parties - an NDA.... Two users each open an app on their phone. They build the NDA and they each sign. The new contract is written to the LTO blockchain. It now exists. It is provable.. verifiable, etc.
• - How did the two users pay to have this happen? Did they "buy a coin" at current market price?
• - Did they pay some fee, a part of which was used pay miners?

[DarkDays]

There are plenty of uses for blockchain in enterprise, which is why several big companies like IBM and Microsoft have already developed their own enterprise-class off-the-shelf blockchain solutions, e.g. Quorum, Hyperledger Fabric etc.

One of the main uses it obviously securely transmitting information between countries without exposing it to the public. This could be achieved using a public and private key system, which ensures transparency should they ever need to be audited, while also fitting its main purpose of moving data safely.

Another main use-case is end-to-end tracking in supply chains, which is why companies like Walmart and several big-pharmas are using to ensure efficiency in production while cutting down on counterfeits and fraud.

[Kyraishi]

Have you seen HyperLedger in action? They where one of the enterprises that where pretty fast to adopt blockchain technology.

They are actually a service provider that is pretty good at deploying independent blockchain solutions based on what the wants and they seem to do some great work in the space.

Great post, a lot of information

[elda34b]

Have you seen HyperLedger in action? They where one of the enterprises that where pretty fast to adopt blockchain technology.

HyperLedger per se is not an enterprise that utilizes blockchain, they're 'making' the blockchain itself. Kinda like Ethereum which creates the blockchain, but the utility of the networks is utilized by other parties.

Ifinca.co is probably a better example of OP purpose. They use blockchain to improve coffee supply chain verification.

[hatshepsut93]

A blockchain is a ledger, perhaps a better way to manage a ledger. An open, permissionless blockchain has the great features of being decentralized with a distributed network of miners providing the muscle to process transactions.

Miners' main goal isn't verifying transactions, they simply put timestamp on it. If you run a small private network, you don't need mining. As for open and permissionless ledger, why would companies need it?

Should it be a new, proprietary blockchain just for this customer, or an existing blockchain? Could a blockchain like this piggyback on an existing coin? Could Ethereum be used store, verify and process a company's general ledger transactions? Would this be a cheaper, more secure way to do it? Would this beat the cost of using a traditional ERP system with a local database maintained by the company?   

If a company wants to store some data in publicly available database that can not be changed, then using existing blockchain, like Ethereum, is an ideal solution, because creating a new blockchain just for their need is never going to work.

[timerland]

Have you seen HyperLedger in action? They where one of the enterprises that where pretty fast to adopt blockchain technology.

HyperLedger per se is not an enterprise that utilizes blockchain, they're 'making' the blockchain itself. Kinda like Ethereum which creates the blockchain, but the utility of the networks is utilized by other parties.

Ifinca.co is probably a better example of OP purpose. They use blockchain to improve coffee supply chain verification.

Yeah. They are more of a service provider to buisnesses who want to get into the decentralizated finance sector, right? Still pretty cool work from them.

I love my coffee and I remember seeing Ifinca in action s couple months ago, it's an interesting way of incorporated blockchain and defi technology in something that seems as popular as coffee, although I do get the feeling that it's solving a problem that doesn't exist, if that makes sense?