Photo by on Markus Spiske Unsplash Just a that can be had include: better supply chain management, quality assurance, accounting, smart contracts, and improved safety and trust of transactions. There are even projects working on making voting more secure via the utilization of blockchain technology. Blockchain technology has the potential to improve how businesses operate, whether it’s for small retailers , conglomerates, or anything in-between. few of the benefits With so many benefits, why aren’t more companies investing in utilizing blockchain technology? I’ve found three factors that I believe are some of the biggest obstacles to blockchain adoption by businesses. The Cost of Mass Adoption Currently, we don’t have many platforms designed to take advantage of blockchain technology. (or have someone else make it). If you want to use the technology for a specific purpose, then you will likely have to build your own software One expert estimates that anywhere from $10,000 for basic apps to $800,000, or more, for unique software with complex functionality. Building new software costs a lot of money. software development costs Few SMBs have enough money to pay for proprietary software. This is a shame, because blockchain technology has the potential to save businesses and consumers a lot of money. The initial investment for smaller businesses, is unfortunately pretty steep at this moment. Until a large company releases affordable, blockchain-based software, it’s unlikely that many small businesses will use the technology. There Aren’t Enough Blockchain Experts Blockchain is a young technology. The concept was developed in the early 1990s, but it was not put into practice until 2008, when Satoshi Nakamoto launched Bitcoin. Since blockchain technology has only been around for about a decade, it’s hard to find experts who have the skills to build platforms. The lack of experts hurts adoption in two ways. First, there aren’t enough people working on the technology to satisfy demand. Second, the exclusivity means that it costs a lot to hire pre-existing blockchain experts. , which we’ve already started to see signs of, with universities like . Still, it will take a few years for those people to gain experience, and for companies to be willing to hire them for their blockchain knowledge. Hopefully, the growing interest in blockchain technology will encourage more people to learn about it Nicosia University offering a digital currency specific MSc People Are Reluctant to Change We can see examples of this throughout history. points to TCP/IP as a good example of slow adoption. Blockchain’s ability to revolutionize things like contracts and financial exchanges actually makes it less likely that people will adopt the technology quickly. Harvard Business Review Researchers started using TCP/IP in 1972 because the technology made it possible for them to send emails to each other. A handful of companies took interest in TCP/IP during the 1980s, but the technology didn’t become popular until the mid-1990s. If it took more than for TCP/IP to reach consumers, then we can’t expect everyone to start using blockchain within one decade of its creation. two decades Despite the obstacles to popularizing blockchain technology for businesses, researchers and early implementers know that it has the power to improve many of the systems and services that we rely on. It may take some time, but people will eventually use blockchain technology just as often and as easily as they check their email.

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