Blogs

Why Legal Marketing Technologists Need To Learn About Blockchain

By Deborah Dobson posted 10-13-2016 13:28

  

As a legal marketing technologist, I feel that one of my responsibilities to my firm and lawyers is to keep an eye on and become knowledgeable about emerging technologies and the impact they will have not only on the legal industry, but other industries as well. One of those technologies that I've been paying close attention to is blockchain. In my first post on blockchain "Blockchain: What You Need To Know," I discussed what blockchain is and some of the practical use cases. Blockchain has the potential to disrupt many, many industries and, for that matter, jobs.

In case you don't have the time to read my previous blockchain article, I'll provide a bit of blockchain 101 for you.

Wikipedia defines blockchain as a distributed database that maintains a continuosly-growing list of records called blocks secured from tampering and revision. Each block contains a timestamp and a link to a previous block. The database is secure and does not require a trusted administrator. For Bitcoin, blockchain is the underlying technology where it serves as a public ledger. While Bitcoin is the exchange of currency, any type of digital information can be stored on blockchain leading to any number of possible application of the technology. Before I get to the impact on law firms and why legal marketers need to learn about blockchain, let's start with some blockchain terminology.

Transaction – This is when a user records some type of digital information to the blockchain. This does not have to be an exchange of currency between two users. For example, music artists could upload music to the blockchain and receive royalties directly providing a new way of offering on demand music services.

Miners – Miners are users with software or equipment who verify if transactions are valid and build transactions into blocks.

Hash – The mathematical process of assigning a value to more complex data. A simple example would be numbering a list of names. Hashing is how blocks are linked together. A faster miner will complete more hashes per second.

Ethereum – Possibly the second-most famous Blockchain, after Bitcoin. While Bitcoin is used for the exchange of currency, Ethereum does more than currency even allowing platforms and programs to run on top of it.

Why Should Legal Marketers Care?

As I mentioned above, blockchain has the ability to keep a safe record of an endless amount of digital information, and particularly sensitive data that could potentially (and in some cases already) be stored on a blockchain such as medical records, birth and death certificates, insurance policies, etc. The possibilities are endless.

Understanding the potential use of the blockchain technology can help the legal marketer educate their attorneys on how it could potentially impact their clients. Here are three areas where blockchain could have an impact in the not-so-distant future.

Privacy

Privacy and data security is becoming an ever important factor in how companies handle their customers/clients data. Seems like not a day goes by that we don't hear about some data breach. And with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into effect May 25, 2018, privacy will become a top priority for those companies that are global. Blockchain could provide that added layer of security.

Logistics

There are blockchain projects experimenting with the technology to provide an open and transparent supply chain which would give companies a competitive advantage. One such project is Project Provenance which enables every physical product to come with a digital 'passport' that provides authenticity and origin creating an auditable record of the journey behind all physical products.

The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General contracted with Swiss Economics to better understand blockchain technology and identify potential areas of interest. While they will likely experiment first with financial applications, they also identified supply chain management, along with identity services and device management as potential areas.

Healthcare

Blockchain could be used in a variety of ways in the healthcare industry. For example, it could be used to share patient data across organizations and people without compromising the security of the information that's stored. With the increasing number of healthcare data breaches, blockchain could play a very important role in securing and sharing health data.

Blockchain is getting the attention of the federal Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. This month the ONC revealed the 15 winners of its Use of Blockchain in Health IT and Health-related Research Challenge.

While much of the blockchain technology is in the experimental stage, there are many projects in different industries. For the legal marketer, it is important to keep an eye on this technology and the application just like other emerging technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence.

What areas do you find most interesting in terms of blockchain application? Would love to hear your thoughts as we explore this fascinating technology.

Originally published on LinkedIn.
0 comments
439 views

Permalink