But artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain are also attracting interest in Africa, as they have the potential to successfully address social and economic challenges there. And there are so many other areas in which 4IR technology can be transformational.
As telcos continue to struggle across the board with declines in both revenue and profitability, blockchain is emerging as a technology with the potential to radically transform the telecommunications industry as well as many other industries. A recent forecast by ResearchAndMarkets predicts revenue from the telecom blockchain will increase by an 80%+ compound annual growth rate over the next five years to nearly $1 billion, while consulting stalwart Accenture sees the potential for a $1 trillion global telco blockchain ecosystem. Even with the wide variance in market forecasts, there is a broad industry consensus that blockchain will grow significantly and play a powerful role in transforming the telco business model and overall industry.
The prospects and potential of Blockchain for the telecoms industry
Many financial institutions still use AI in a sporadic and scattered way, often only applying the technology to specific use cases or verticals. But bank industry leaders are transforming their operations by systemically deploying AI across the entire lifecycle of their digital operations. Notably, the financial industry is coming to realize that algorithms are only as good as their data. Attention is turning to gaining competitive advantage from previously under-used customer behavior data collected via conventional operations. This will unlock the hitherto untapped potential of ecosystem-based financing, in which banks, insurers and other financial services firms partner with non-financial players to facilitate seamless customer experiences in areas outside their traditional remit.
Replacing manual work with automation not only improves efficiency, but also reduces human errors, and allows businesses to respond to fluctuations in demand. While already well established among leading financial players, we expect RPA to penetrate more deeply throughout the industry. Accounts payable processes, for instance, have the potential to be 60 percent automated using robots that mirror human actions for basic paperwork and decision-making.
Breakthrough technologies such as distributed ledger technology (DLT; or commonly known as blockchain) present opportunities across all business sectors to enhance data integrity and ensure authenticity. Aiming to not only demystify DLT and demonstrate its applications beyond cryptocurrency, this policy paper explores the potential pathways for nuclear security in nuclear material accounting and control, insider threat mitigation, and transport security.
The induction of IT Tools and techniques in medical domain have shown a remarkable impact and provided a wide opportunity in various ehealth services. These online services are prone to same kinds of threats as other online applications. Security is one of the pertinent issues for the effective and successful implementation of these ehealth services. Healthcare data is versatile and huge in nature which when transferred to its different stakeholders require high degree of integrity, confidentiality, and availability. The different stakeholders of healthcare services like doctors, patients, nurse, paramedical staff, official staff, etc. have different roles to play and for maintaining privacy not all the data should be shared to all the users [1]. In the recent years, blockchain has shown a remarkable impact in sharing the data in a secured manner. Different services have been highly benefited by inculcating blockchain. Its significance can be easily analyzed in health services also. The medical records and information can be easily streamlined in a protected environment. The blocks created by one user are confirmed by millions of computers leading towards a unique record with unique history, even if a single record is disrupted it disrupts the complete chain having millions of instances. In the current scenarios, many industries are looking forward to apply blockchain technology for securing their data. In the news industry, as well as in social media, it is pertinent that only the reliable news should be propagated. The detection and identification of fake news is the need of the hour. In the era of digitization, it is not difficult to manipulate and post the digital content on social media. The integration of blockchain can control the propagation of fake news. In the medical domain the maintenance and security of electronic health record has always been on high priority. It involves all the stakeholders of medical services. EHR framework can be developed through the blockchain technology which shall help in providing immutable and authentic medical records over a broader network. The risk involved in maintaining the personal health data can be minimized to a greater extent through the blockchain-based solution.
MedRec is a system for handling EMR (electronic medical record) using blockchain technology which has been proposed by the authors of [32]. This system facilitates the users to access their medical information securely with much ease. Two protocols were designed in [33] for healthcare based on pervasive social network. The first protocol that displays authenticated association is an improved version of the IEEE 802.15.6 and second protocol shares health data among various PSN nodes using blockchain technique. The report [34] aims to illustrate possible influences, goals, and potentials connected to this disruptive technology. To understand this concept and its applications better [35], aimed at reviewing the available information on Healthcoin.
In [39] the creators have introduced and exhibited the utilization of blockchain innovation in numerous mechanical applications. The foundation of HealthChain, which is a healthcare industry application in blockchain, formulated and developed using IBM blockchain initiative. The authors in [40] tried to investigate different blockchain structures, analyzing existing challenges, and provide possible solutions. The authors in this paper [41] design an efficient recovery scheme and lightweight backup for keys of health blockchain using body sensor network according to the features of health blockchain. A disruptive technology based on blockchain is implemented [42] which facilitates cryptographic security and data access for medical communities in a formalized way via smart contracts for the purpose of data security and to make this data accessible to doctor and other trusted parties.
The authors of [83] emphasize on safe data storage and transmission using lockers as an effective measure. The strengths and prospects of implementing blockchain for managing socioeconomic systems are also presented. Work is as of now in progress to bring blockchain innovation to the medicinal services industry [84], and administrators of hospitals are trying to envisage its use for clinicians, patients, and for themselves. It also involves chairmen at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, which is mainly a scholarly medical institution located in Boston, USA. The article [85] tries to present an attribute based scheme meant for control of access as an addition with controlled access delegation capabilities which can work in a multidomain ehealth environment. The paper [86] proposes an access control manager which allows access and storage of data in a secure manner. This is further utilized by the classifier while doing real-time retraining via external data storage location. A Proof of Disease (PoD) consensus protocol, which has a basis in Ethereum alongside a single instance of truth which can be understood by the computer, is discussed in the paper [87].
The authors of [124] have done a comparative analysis of core blockchain architecture, along with fundamental concepts, and its applications in three major areas: business and automobile industry, healthcare, and the Internet of Things (IoT). The work in [125] presented is based on an blockchain-enabled IoT system that improvises challenges faced in storing data of patients received by wearable IoT devices thereby helping medical practitioners to make decisions that are much informed on the basis of efficient medical record-maintenance.
In the paper [128], authors have proposed a completely new protocol named as Pseudonym Based Encryption with Different Authorities (PBE-DA) for achieving perfect confidentiality maintenance for patients in order to meet the requisites of distributed structure in the ehealth records (EHRs) system. This is accomplished by the application of blockchain concepts on the entities of healthcare communication in an electric health platform. The paper [129] deals with analyzing blockchain-IOT impact in the healthcare industrial sector. The article [130] does a comparison between the traditional EHR systems using client-server architecture and the blockchain enabled systems. The authors of paper [131] propose a secure healthcare scheme using a blockchain technology where health data is collected from users using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The data is then stored in the nearest server [132], discusses the blockchain applications in the radiology field. The paper [133] discusses the role of authenticated and permissionless blockchain and its potential implementations. The chapter [134] gives a stress on the use cases of healthcare and blockchain applications, along with the technical challenges faced, that are being addressed by blockchain developers and researchers in recent times worldwide.
The authors of [158] have thrown light on the blockchain process of providing certificate for the health services. In [159], a structure has been devised combining blockchain with edge computing for leveraging security, scalability, and privacy to the medical domain. The use cases also play an important part in deciding the new norms for security. In this regard, the article [160] illustrates some use cases leveraging the solutions based on blockchain which shall helpful in organizing the medical records. An authentication protocol for the IoT-enabled medical system BAKMP-IoMT has been designed in [161] for maintaining the security issues between implantable medical devices, personal servers, and the cloud servers. Security of medical records is one of the pertinent things in healthcare services. The authors of [162] have analyzed the usage of blockchain technology in providing security and storage of medical records for United States health services from industry perspective. In [163], the application of different technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, 5G, unmanned ariel have been discussed for combatting the pandemic COVID-19 outbreak. The authors of [164] have thrown light on the design and development of the model based on blockchain for imparting security and privacy of data and ensuring that the patients get full control of their health records. 2ff7e9595c
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