The term “blockchain” has been—and continues to be—thrown around. Article after article claims that it would disrupt all sorts of industries and bring about unprecedented advantages. Yet almost ten years since the inception of Bitcoin, the first blockchain to ever exist, and mass adoption remains slow— the majority of the world is still holding back despite its supposedly immeasurable promises.
Cryptocurrency trading has been hyped enough to entice even those who do not understand—enough to have them dip their hands into the space and gamble with their money in the process. However, getting more people to actually build meaningful blockchain projects has not seen as much success as it should.
While some of the lags in blockchain technology’s rise can be attributed to the critical development phase and the time it takes to create secure, airtight code, there are other hindrances to mass adoption that have to be addressed.
There are some aspects that industry players can work on to drive the industry forward, and entice more businesses to make the shift into the blockchain arena.
Education
In order for a company to even consider integrating blockchain into their business processes, they need to understand it. Educating business owners and entrepreneurs is a start. Additionally, more developers should be trained for blockchain programming. Currently, there is a huge unmet demand for blockchain developers, and this prevents businesses from jumping in since they don’t have a point person who can assess and choose blockchain solutions, and figure out issues should they arise down the line.
Effective Communication
This is probably one of the biggest issues deterring a majority of the world’s population from anything that has the word “blockchain” in it. Effective communication—simple communication, is one of the key factors in gaining widespread business traction.
First, there is the need to reduce the technobabble. Blockchain technology is already complex as it is. It is in every blockchain company’s best interest to eliminate the technological intimidation new users are faced with by simplifying communications as much as possible.
Unification of platforms
It takes time for individuals within an organization to grasp navigation of any new platform. Enabling different applications to interact with each other within one ecosystem instead of requiring different, scattered platforms to provide a company’s needs can help significantly reduce the confusion and possible aversion of businesses. If we really want blockchain technology to thrive, at some point we would need to narrow down these platforms by enabling interaction between these different applications.
Enabling users to access everything they need within one platform—without having to open up more apps that they might not understand is one of the key solutions to make blockchains simple for enterprises. A platform like that of DAOstack’s comes to mind—organizations can simply add and subtract functionalities in the modular operating system, as if they were merely shopping for WordPress plugins.
DAOstack scores quite well for onboarding new businesses into the blockchain train, as it also enables organizations to communicate and transact with other organizations without ever leaving the platform.
UI and UX Design
User experience and interface design also have a lot to do with mainstream enterprise traction. Ease of use, simplicity, and intuitiveness have been proven as determining factors for the success, or failure of traditional applications. The same holds true for blockchain solutions.
Applications must be designed so that users can easily do what they need to do without having to fully understand the technical jargon. Imagine if computers were not packaged in sleek chassis— seeing all the chips and wires within it would deter most users from even touching them in fear of breaking something.
Much like in traditional applications, blockchain applications may need to integrate in-app guides to help onboard users and businesses. Cut down steps needed to get started, pre-packaged solutions based on what users need, and narrow down choices. Advanced configurations may be made available for those who have already grasped the system to a higher level.
Community building
Some might not notice this, but a lot of education goes on in online forums. Online communities today play a big role in building professional relationships between applications and its users. Inquiries can be instantly addressed, and partnerships quickly brokered. This is why most blockchain applications maintain Slack and Telegram channels. These messaging platforms serve as a medium for both educating and maintaining public relations.
Keeping open communications with a growing user base, whether through online forums or traditional messaging systems like email and contact forms helps retain a relationship between a blockchain project and its users.
Prepare for scale. Mass scale.
Large-scale requirements must be anticipated long before an increase of users is expected. If the system, which in itself is already taking users some time to get accustomed to, freezes or fails at some point, this would deter a company from using it as it could impede normal business operations. This is a crucial aspect that can potentially bring everything down into a backslide, causing the industry to fall back down to square one: blockchain aversion.