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In spite of its numerous advantages in any commercial sector, Blockchain is not a standard in business management. Not yet. There are a lot of reasons why a lot of businesses still have doubts about implementing this relatively new technology, but for small businesses, any doubt is ten times stronger.
Small businesses usually have tight budgets, and they do not need particularly structured systems in place, so Blockchain seems too big to satisfy their needs and an implementation operation would cost too much to be repaid in the short run. Any interesting project from which they could eventually benefit is based on large, public blockchains that can count on the participation of a lot of partners, like shared databases of clients, goods traceability, shared documents for KYC purposes.
If you are a small business owner, you might feel like you do not need Blockchain and Blockchain does not need you, at least, not immediately. Maybe you do look at Blockchain like some technology to be implemented in the future, but you still see that future too far.
However, there are some Blockchain applications for small businesses that could have a positive impact on your company straightaway. We present the top 3 of the most popular, but if you start searching into it, you will realise there is a lot more to experiment.
Loyalty programs
If you run a small business, you know that regular customers are one of the most critical assets of your company. If you make them happy, their word-of-mouth will be an excellent source of income.
The question is, how do you keep customers loyal? Fair prices and good customer service are a good start, but a loyalty program with rewards can definitely help. Managing a loyalty program, however, requires time, human resources, terms and conditions, and some of them also require an onboarding process. And we are not considering the fact that frauds can occur at any moment.
Blockchain can automate management, onboarding, and terms and conditions compliance, and it is impossible to fraud. If you have multiple stores, the system could work across the whole network.
Accept cryptocurrency payments
Many people find cryptocurrencies too volatile to be used instead of fiat, and regulations are not very clear in too many jurisdictions to see widespread usage. Still, many countries do allow businesses to accept payments in cryptocurrencies, especially where there are crypto-friendly banks.
If this is the case, it takes very little time and technical maintenance to be cryptocurrency-ready, and offer a new way to pay to your customers and enjoy the advantages of Blockchain-regulated payments: funds transferred immediately, no or very small fees, reduced risk of frauds.
A great feature to add to your small business with low cost and good outcome.
Smart contracts
If you sell services, rather than goods, chances are you ask your clients to sign a contract where all terms and conditions are negotiated, agreed, and fixed on paper until the business relationship is over.
Sometimes, however, getting the final signature on a contract takes weeks or even months because of bureaucracy and compliance with KYC regulations. It is not about the contract itself, but the actions related to them take time to be manually done and recorded.
With smart contracts, you can start directly with the signature, because thanks to Blockchain they can be executed automatically when certain conditions are met, such as payments, application form submissions, or ID checks. The status would be updated in real-time and
If you get help from a Blockchain consultant, you can set up these kinds of contracts for your business without any complication.
Your small business might have what it takes to thrive with Blockchain. Contact us to find out more.
