Introduction
The birth of blockchain technology, thanks to Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin idea of 2008, is a discovery that comes with great power to better our world. At more than 850 cryptocurrencies already in less than a decade, it is no wonder that explorations are now diverting to use of custom tokens to address the immediate needs of specific industries. Major industries are grappling with major constraints in terms of quality and efficiency, and custom tokens could offer the ultimate solutions for specified market needs and demands. Already, Dentacoin is taking shape for the health industry, taking care of the dental community.
Creating a Community
The core principle of cryptocurrencies is decentralization, eliminating the middleman and central authorities by all means. In the principles of sales and marketing, this would translate to giving more power to the end user, the customer or the client. Major industries like the music sector, health sector, education, agriculture, and so on, have a ton of issues to deal with, hence the establishment of specific Foundations, Companies, Welfare Groups and SACCOs, to try to pull resources and bring people together. It’s important to note that the modern day service industries thrive on the premise of the feedback received from loyal customers. Listening to trustworthy feedback from key stakeholders in an industry brings invaluable contribution that no single regulatory body or central institution can afford. And talking of feedback, many institutions have over the years tried to reach out to industry players, but that is only once in a long while. Unfortunately, such communities do not exist for most industries, and there is therefore the lack of constant feedback. These are the very issues that custom tokens seek to address, and the best way is to ensure that the custom tokens are tailored for an entire industry, with specific tools to address specific concerns. The dynamics of every industry might be very unique, but that is for the developers to customize the tools.
Improving Service Delivery
Every time reviews or feedback is given on social media, whether positive or negative, it is upon the service providers and their site administrators to keep or pull down the comments, especially when they think that the reviews are extremely transparent, in a negative sense. But with a determination to uphold transparency, responsibility and accountability, reviews cannot be changed or manipulated once on the blockchain. That is to say that market research value will go up, and players in the industry will be able to regularly access up-to-date data. Such platforms, tailored for an entire industry, will simply translate to optimal speed in service delivery, and safety in handling market research data. In the case of Dentacoin, the Decentralized Trusted Review Platform goes a long way in enhancing treatment plans, while allowing the patients community to access reliable comparative information from trusted quotas within the platform. That is to say customers, there will be a choice of service providers based on the feedback, hence informed decisions based on public ratings of individuals and institutions. Care should be taken to ensure that such reviews, as in the case of the health industry are neither generic nor standard, but those provided by actual patients.
Reducing Costs
To continuously build strong customer relationships, there should be an incentive structure within a custom token, where quality reviews by industry players are rewarded using the tokens. As members fill in surveys and respond to treatment quality and market research questions, smart contracts will be used to facilitate payment of rewards using the custom tokens called Dentacoins. Consequently, the earnings will go a long way in making further payments in partnering institutions within the industry.
Conclusion
The education industry should have a custom token that is not only open to teachers and parents but also to students, while one for the health industry should accommodate both doctors and patients, and so on. If adopted for every sector, the disruption experienced in the banking industry would trickle down to all industries around the world, connecting the global community in untold measures!
Mariam Nishanian (Guest Writer)
