Blockchain: The Ozempic For Business Bloat
From sluggish to agile — blockchain is helping businesses cut inefficiencies, reduce delays, and build trust through a transparent and automated system.
There’s a medical emergency, and you’re rushed to a hospital in the middle of the night. The doctors need your medical history — past surgeries, allergies, prescriptions, diagnostic test results — but the information is scattered across several private labs, multiple clinics or hospitals. Some reports are gathering dust somewhere, and many are buried in your mailbox. As a result, precious time is lost in putting together the pieces of your health story.
Now, let’s look at a different scenario. You're admitted, and within seconds, the medical team has access to your complete, tamper-proof medical records — from childhood vaccinations right up to the blood test last week. No delay. No paperwork. Just correct, authentic data, available when you need it.
That’s the potential of blockchain. And while healthcare provides a persuasive example, this is just one of many industries where blockchain is quietly revolutionising how businesses operate. Or can.
Blockchain Therapy
Though it rode piggyback on cryptocurrencies to earn its fame, blockchain’s impact also lies in its ability to help businesses streamline their workflows, reduce operational costs, and increase transparency.
Blockchain acts like a digital notebook where each data entry — whether it's a payment, a contract, or a medical update — is securely recorded, time-stamped, and added to a chain viewable by authorised stakeholders.
The best part of blockchain is that the data, once saved, cannot be changed.
A key convenience blockchain can bring to a business is the smart contract — a self-executing contract. These contracts automatically trigger actions when predefined conditions are met. ((Read about smart contracts in detail.)
In the healthcare industry, for example, a smart contract could automatically file an insurance claim once diagnostics and treatment records are uploaded. There would be no need for any paperwork or email intimations to your insurers.
Similarly, these digital contracts could also work seamlessly for procurement, payroll, vendor management, and much more.
Cutting The Flab
The benefits of blockchain are indeed significant: businesses can not only automate repetitive processes and reduce human intervention, they can also minimise the scope of errors and risk of fraud.
It can also improve coordination between departments by maintaining accurate and unchangeable product records across teams.
This system not only eliminates all chances of duplication and miscommunication — two critical issues in traditional enterprise systems — but also ensures that everyone, irrespective of their department, works with one single version of the truth.
Adoption in India
In India, the technology is already being used by banks in areas such as trade finance.
In 2018, Infosys joined hands with several banks, such as Axis Bank, ICICI, IndusInd, Kotak Mahindra, RBL, South Indian Bank, and Yes Bank, to launch a blockchain network, India Trade Connect. The aim was to make trade finance more efficient by allowing banks to share documents instantly, reduce paperwork, and minimise the chances of fraud.
Similarly, in 2021, IIT Madras came up with BlockTrack, a blockchain platform, to store and share medical data. The highlight of this system was that it allowed patients, hospitals, and doctors to access medical files without any delay or gaps, resulting in better coordination and improved diagnosis.
Likewise, state governments in India are exploring blockchain for document authentication.
In May this year, the Rajasthan government said it plans to integrate its e-Aushadhi medicine distribution portal with the Integrated Health Management System, aiming to link medicine dispensation with patients' Ayushman Bharat Health Account IDs.
The initiative seeks to facilitate real-time generation of Electronic Health Records and streamline access to health data.
Final Words
Adopting blockchain doesn’t require a massive overhaul. As we wrote in an earlier article, Adopt Slowly, Scale Smartly, businesses can start with pilot projects and scale gradually once value is demonstrated.
In conclusion, blockchain offers a clear path to modernise operations — from hospitals to factories — with a focus on automation, transparency, and trust.
As businesses feel the need to operate faster, smarter, and with greater accountability, blockchain could be their next technological step. Nothing magical — just an efficient way to cut the bloat.
This series is brought to you in partnership with Algorand.
