The popularity of blockchain-based products is growing fast. It’s no surprise, though: Blockchain applications are seeing use in everything from supply chain management to the authentication of art and even to ensure that children’s purchases on mobile apps come from legitimate sellers. In a short time, blockchain and its applications have become a major target for startups, entrepreneurs, and investors. And in fact, it’s not just startups and entrepreneurs that are getting interested in blockchain but also major companies, like Facebook, that are now exploring using blockchain-based systems to improve security and increase transparency.
Blockchain applications have been around for a while. One of the most well-known use cases is Bitcoin, which has been around since 2009 and has been used by millions of users worldwide to make purchases and send money without involving banks or financial institutions.
Understanding the Use Case
There are multiple ways a blockchain-based product can solve a problem. They could be used to ensure immutable records for transactions and online identities, financial transactions for microfinance that are not done through banks, or as a platform for tokenization to increase efficiency by making data transfer more affordable. They could be used to ensure immutable records for transactions and online identities, financial transactions for microfinance that are not done through banks, or as a platform for tokenization to increase efficiency by making data transfer more affordable. Let’s take a closer look at one of the three different ways.
A blockchain-based documentation platform: Provenance
Provenance is one of the blockchain-based products available today. Their goal is to provide a transparent and public system that tracks the path of products from inception so that everyone can see what their products were made of and how they were made. This can be used to prove they were not counterfeit or used to cause harm. Provenance is a blockchain-based product that can ensure the authenticity of various items, such as artwork and jewelry. Tracking the production of these goods through a public ledger can serve as a tool to determine the authenticity of products.
Blockchain is not just an opportunity for financial institutions. It has the potential to transform other important aspects of our daily lives, from education and health to government services like voting, so we will continue seeing new ways that it can improve our current system for the better.
Choosing the Right Blockchain Platform
When it comes to choosing the right blockchain platform is seemingly a hard question. There is so much new information always coming out, and it is overwhelming. It can also be hard to know where to start. So we have made this blog post about choosing the best blockchain platform; what are you looking for? Do you want one that is easy to deploy, has support for smart contracts, supports decentralization, and has multiple chains? When deciding on a platform, all of these things could matter a lot.
In general, however, here are the key steps to choosing the best blockchain platform:
- Understand the industry your business will operate in
- Evaluate the desired scope of operations and what corresponding data you need to store on the blockchain
- Review available platforms and assess which best meets your needs.
Implementing these steps will help you in settling on the best blockchain platform.
Product Design and Development
A blockchain-based product is a system that uses a decentralized digital ledger, or blockchain, to record transactions and store data. This section explores the strategies that an entrepreneur can use to develop one.
Here are the strategies:
- The first step on your blockchain-based product roadmap is to set a scope of work. Determine the scope of your project and get an idea of what it will look like. At this stage, you should document the expected project deliverables, milestones, and resources required for each task.
- Develop a product concept model that helps you identify the goals and factors to consider when designing your product’s user experience (UX). This model will also help you identify the components of a user interface.
- Decide where you want to focus your efforts during the design process. Please focus on the product’s major features, prototype a minimal version, and test its usability with a small group of users. Adjust until you are confident that it meets your business requirements, security, and usability goals.
- Create use cases that define how users can interact with your blockchain-based product’s interfaces. It is best to prototype the use cases using a wireframe.
- Develop the product’s architecture. The architecture includes the centralized database, network, and blockchain ledger, among other elements within your blockchain-based product.
- Get a development team to work on your product. This will help your business to gain access to the best resources and skills in the market, such as developers and designers.
- Test your product before you release it into the market. When testing your product, use Google’s functional testing suite, which consists of tests for frontend and backend components and resource requirements for your database and other elements within your blockchain-based product. These tests help to validate that your product works as expected before it is released.
- Deploy your product and follow best practices for customer support. Customer support includes identifying issues in the product, proactively communicating with users about the status of any resolved or open issues, and resolving problems for customer satisfaction.
Hopefully, the strategies mentioned above will contribute to designing and developing a blockchain-based product in terms of user experience, security, and scalability.
Building a Blockchain Development Team
One of the key things to consider when assembling a team is to ensure that it has the right mix of skills and experience. This will ensure that the team members are well-equipped for whatever challenges your project may throw them. Let’s say you want to build a decentralized application (DApp) that relies on Visa’s centralized technology, such as a credit card processor or other regulated financial services like Paypal or Coinbase.
Then you might want to look at hiring a project manager who has experience working with one of these traditional Fintech companies before or someone who has worked in traditional payment gateways. You can find project managers in crypto, but they would be less familiar with Visa or PayPal’s processes and culture. By not hiring someone who already works with them, you run the risk of having problems getting their technology integrated into your new decentralized application.
You can also hire blockchain developers with previous experience working with distributed networks. Crypto experience is not required, but it will be helpful. If you are looking for someone with a cryptography background, then getting their expertise integrated into your new decentralized application will be difficult or impossible. It would help if you also considered hiring designers and UX experts who understand the user experience and design methods used by existing payment processors. If you want your new decentralized application to be used by millions of users, they will need to be able to navigate it easily.
Identifying and Hiring the Right Blockchain Talent
Different methods exist for recruiting new talent into a struggling industry, like blockchain technology. Companies can use various channels to recruit blockchain professionals, such as online applications, social networks, job sites, etc. To remain at the cutting edge of technology, you need a qualified team aware of the latest developments in this field. Blockchain professionals are needed to be able to manage their organizations effectively and ensure digital asset security. If you want to hire multiple positions for the same, you should hire the best crypto headhunters.
Recruitment Strategy
Candidates for blockchain positions must be capable of learning quickly and adapting rapidly to new ideas. Many blockchain staffing company will therefore seek candidates with the following traits:
- Deep understanding of blockchain technology.
- Experience in managing blockchain-based solutions.
- Ability to work with peers from other disciplines.
- Problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
- Ability to work in a distributed organization and across multiple time zones.
Researching Candidates Online
Online research is one of the best ways to find candidates for blockchain positions for any blockchain staffing agency. Recruiters should consider the following tips when conducting online interviews:
- Search for candidates from different educational backgrounds. Seek candidates from a variety of locations, and make sure to explore demographics that are under-represented in the blockchain industry.
- Deepen your knowledge about potential candidates by exploring educational websites and social networks. Research candidates on Wikipedia and LinkedIn to see if they have accurate profiles. Scrutinize their social media accounts to gauge their interests and location.
- Search the internet for information on candidates’ life experiences, such as their travel activities, political involvement, and social activities. This is an important measure of the candidate’s personality traits, work style, and service orientation.
- When searching for potential employees online, it is important to use keyword-directed searches.
- Find professionals who have also worked on non-blockchain-related projects.
- Target candidates who have an interest in the industry.
If you are on the fence about hiring the right blockchain talent, consider choosing Blockchain Staffing Ninja. This prominent and reputable blockchain staffing agency has carved a niche by identifying and hiring the right blockchain talent. That said, you can count on the company without reserve, and rest assured your satisfaction is guaranteed.
Conclusion
There are many different ways people utilize blockchain technology for their businesses, whether tailored to provide transparency or increase efficiencies, but with innovation comes opportunity. If you are an entrepreneur looking to make a move on the blockchain, there are plenty of resources and companies you can use as a starting point. Companies like Blockchain Staffing Ninja offer world-class consulting services for those seeking guidance in building their projects. In the future, we can expect blockchain adoption in non-cryptocurrency applications but at a much slower pace. The technology is still in its infancy, and more time and research are needed to develop it further. So far, we have only seen the tip of the iceberg regarding what this technology can do for businesses.