The emergence of Blockchain-as-a-Service at a juncture, where organizations are grappling to answer questions about how blockchain technology can be used for strategic advantage, is no surprise. Firms looking at their long-term growth have already buckled up to provide Blockchain as a Service.
Blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS)
After the successful implementation of Blockchain Technology in cryptocurrency, its scope has widened to include all secure transactions. This resulted in a demand for hosting services. Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) is a type of service for managing cloud-based solutions to adopt, host, and develop their smart contracts, blockchain applications, and relevant functions.
The emergence of BaaS is an important development and a significant milestone in furthering the use of blockchain technology. It holds the promise of accelerating the adoption of distributed ledger technology to businesses across industries.
Benefits
The adoption and implementation of blockchain technology had several inherent technical complexities, high operational costs, and lacked domain expertise to develop, operate, and maintain the infrastructure of the platform. The introduction of BaaS has changed the game for businesses.
The right service provider will give businesses access to blockchain developers, governance experts, cloud infrastructure, and processes. Businesses do not need to worry about the initial cost of developing and deploying the service, as it is being provided by a third-party. Therefore, the implementation of BaaS has become feasible and gives businesses various advantages.
- Better Software – with BaaS, businesses get better software in the sense that the software is developed and implemented once across the organization. They will get frequent updates to remedy any problems that might have occurred previously.
- Anywhere Access – a BaaS can be accessed by the right personnel anytime, and from any place. They will need their credentials to access the information they are looking for.
- Offers Massive Scalability – a blockchain system achieves a higher transaction processing system than other systems by modifying the consensus mechanism and adjusting some system parameters.
- Increased Data Security – all the data in a blockchain service is encrypted. You can look at the ledger to see that the data has not been altered.
- Low-cost Access to Technology – BaaS offers low-cost access to technology because organizations do not necessarily have to develop and deploy their won blockchain networks.
Document Tracking
BaaS provides an easy distribution tracking system for documents that keeps people from making any changes. Sometimes documents are necessary for completing transactions. For such cases, blockchain provides equal access to information to everyone involved in the transaction. It also makes sure that no one can change the contents of the documents in any way. Everyone in the chain of command can rest assured that the documents are secure and free from any tampering.
Data Storage
Businesses that rely on secure data storage can benefit from a decentralized blockchain network. The risks involved in a breach of data are far less in a blockchain, as compared to a centralized system. Blockchains are scalable in a unique way that allows for a huge amount of data to be stored with ease and security. Industries that are highly regulated benefit more from blockchain’s secure decentralized data storage because of its immutable characteristics.
Contract Execution
Blockchain can also give businesses a platform with a very high level of transparency for contract execution. Since the documents cannot be altered, it implies that everyone involved will be equally informed. This increases the efficiency of the contract process, makes the whole process smooth, and reduces delays. The technologies associated with blockchain and its flexibility give way to many different applications for the future. Companies can utilize BaaS to find these applications without making huge commitments.
Time & Money
Services like BaaS offer organizations a different approach to implementing the technology without the need to develop a blockchain network of their own. Companies offering BaaS provide a reliable service for other organizations to use. Businesses save a lot of time by outsourcing the service from a third-party. Furthermore, it also saves costs for businesses as they do not need to hire developers to maintain and deploy the software.
Customizable Template
Companies offering BaaS are also providing ready-made templates to be used and implemented in the existing systems or applications of an organization. So, businesses do not need to build the architecture from scratch. Some BaaS providers also give the added advantage of integrating new features and later developments within the existing system without reworking the code.
Focus on Features
Since the development team is free from working on BaaS, they can shift their focus on their expertise and allow blockchain to complement their projects. After setting up the infrastructure of blockchain, the service provider is the one who maintains and manages the network with security features, hosting, resource allocation, and bandwidth management.
Testing
One of the most interesting results of blockchain is that organizations can test new technology without risking an in-house failure. They can implement the system once it is tested and perfected. Companies get the ability to test the code within the boundaries of blockchain. It confirms the features’ feasibility.
Some BaaS Providers
Microsoft – One of the first BaaS providers with Azure Blockchain Service in 2015. Their service enables developers to experiment with the technology to come up with different applications. It supports multiple blockchain frameworks.
Amazon – Amazon Managed Blockchain is Amazon’s BaaS offering. Users can handle and set-up a blockchain network with a few clicks. It is fully managed, supports Ethereum & Hyperledger Fabric, and uses the QLDB technology of Amazon.
R3 – R3 Corda is a BaaS provided by ChainStack. Businesses can host the Corda network in a few clicks as the platform reduces the blockchain nodes’ deployment time to a few minutes. It offers easy cloud-based deployment and has a built-in blockchain application firewall for extra security.
Conclusion
BaaS is a relatively new service, but the grounds for its implementation and use have been established. It is now feasible to implement a BaaS within an organization for several advantages. It increases transparency in transactions, provides better security for documents, and gives access to information from anywhere. Organizations looking to gain a competitive edge should start implementing BaaS to reap its rewards.
