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Blockchain in HR (1 of 2)


Blockchain is being touted as the greatest invention since the advent of internet. It started with the emergence of Bitcoin, an alternate currency system, which leveraged blockchain as the core concept. While bitcoin was a game changer, companies fast realized that there are broader uses of blockchain which can have ramifications in multiple areas. These, beyond the bitcoin capabilities of blockchain have caught the fancy of the business and the technology world and has resulted in a constant stream of investments pouring in anything and everything related to blockchain.

The emergence of bitcoin as an alternate currency system spearheaded its use in transaction space. However, once the concept of blockchain got wider acceptance, its alternate uses are dominating the insurance and capital markets domain. 

There have been multiple potential use cases and few successful small scale implementations of blockchain ranging from customer facing payment technology to trading and exchange services. While the banking and insurance verticals have seen almost 90% of the total activity in the blockchain space, the uses of blockchain can benefit various horizontal areas as well. One such area where blockchain can have great impact is Human Resources (HR).

HR as a function is undergoing radical shifts due to reasons leading from organization’s quest to acquire and retain high performers to making the function more effective and efficient by leveraging latest technologies. These changes have brought the HR function on the cusp of disruption. While analytics and automation (including AI/cognitive) has been the buzzwords for quite some time now, the new revolution staring the HR function in face is Blockchain.

HR as a function forms the basis of any successful organization. Again, it is a repository of the most important data in the company - candidate data and thus, one of the prime candidates and target for data mismanagement, compensation fraud and wasteful audits. Blockchain use in HR can help reduce data errors, develop verifiable and dependable employee records and provide an everlasting data chain for successful audits. In next part of this blog, I will discuss how blockchain can be leveraged across different areas in the HR super-set.

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