Data democratization is an approach to information technology (IT) whereby everyone has access to data, and data systems have few—or no—gatekeepers to that data. Such aspiration goes beyond breaking data free from IT departments, organizational silos, and institutional borders, to even across governments and states. The origins of Bitcoin, for example, took data democratization from big data and cloud networks to a self-governing cryptocurrency to facilitate digital transactions without a central authority. My love for blockchain springs from this data democratization ideal.
Improving digital privacy and security grows more critical every day as news of data breaches, stolen personal and business and government information, and compromises to critical infrastructure make headlines. Again, I believe blockchain’s distributed ledger technology (DLT)—originally built for zero-trust environments and further secured in private, permissioned configurations— gives organizations a compelling alternative to centralized databases and a strong defense against phishing and ransomware attacks. For example, the decentralization of data inherent to blockchain means even successful phishing attacks (that penetrate an endpoint node) only gain a fragment of system access and so cannot steal or ransom the entire data set.
Finally, while it is easy to laud the potential of new technologies, we must also be wary of their impact to the environment and human sustainability. Cryptocurrencies, for example, have been taken to task for their dramatic energy consumption. Private blockchains, alternatively, can operate without such a heavy environmental toll. And at ZorroSign, we use a private blockchain to help individuals, businesses, and governments to achieve a paperless life. We understand that switching to digital records is not only a smart business decision, but it is also good for the environment. Each time someone uses ZorroSign to digitally sign agreements, contracts, and other documents—instead of printing, faxing, scanning, and couriering documents to collect signatures— we save trees and water, and reduce carbon emissions.
I urge everyone across the public and private sectors to look to H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Digital City Vision for Smart Dubai and to strive for a paperless life by 2030.
Shamsh Hadi is the award-winning CEO of ZorroSign, deploying blockchain technology to improve data privacy and security. He holds a degree from the University of Waterloo, professional certificates from Cornell University, and was selected for the YPO/Harvard Presidents’ Program. His family has lived in Dubai for the past 55 years.
