- Blog
- Published on: 23.02.2023
- 2:22 mins
How Web3 can contribute to a #Better Tomorrow
Decentralization and Digital Ownership
Web3 has the potential to fundamentally change the economy and society.
In the early days of the internet, web1 was dominated by static websites and in web2, large and interactive central platforms like Instagram and TikTok emerged. What was initially considered a huge gain in efficiency now constitutes major deficits in KYC (Know-Your-Customer) for businesses, including in the personalization of their products. Consequently, a trend towards internal data sovereignty (or at least between partners) has emerged. However, this leads to increased complexity and requires a broad network and interfaces, some of which must be managed across sectors. It was not least because of this that Rewe announced it would end its long-standing cooperation with its partner Payback in 2025 in favor of a proprietary loyalty program in order to save on costs and be able to evaluate customer data in a more targeted manner (Focus, 2023).
This is where the strengths of Web3 with its decentralized infrastructure comes into play. As an unchangeable transcript, it allows cooperation and data sharing via blockchain between strangers or parties who have not yet built up any mutual trust – in a standardized, secure and comprehensible manner.
Orientation and transparency
Blockchain and Web3 applications have the potential to completely change our understanding of corporate organizations. Through smart contracts and NFTs, interfaces to partner companies and third parties can be established and used more safely, quickly, and transparently. However, there is still a lack of clarity in many companies regarding key concepts such as blockchain, NFT, SSI (Self-Sovereign Identities) and metaverse. For this reason, experts at MHP have developed a technology map which can be used as an orientation aid.
The map is based on four technology clusters: the internet, immersive technologies such as AR/VR/MR, data-driven topics such as artificial intelligence and blockchain as a Distributed-Ledger-Technology-Basis (DLT) for the token economy and self-sovereign identities (SSI). These form the foundation for metaverses which feature an immersive customer experiences that enable social interactions in areas such as gaming, work, learning and sales, which would not be feasible in the real world. They do not necessarily have to be decentralized and hosted on blockchain basis, as the distributed metaverse is available. With blockchain, it is possible to implement digital ownership, values and identities in virtual spaces which in the future will come to play a significant role in our real world too.
Tiffanys
Companies can add value and enhance customer insights through Web3 collaborations – among them Tiffanys.
Tiffany's NFTiffy, allowed the owners of an NFT to have an exclusive pendant of their Crypto Punk made at Tiffany (Tiffany&Co, 2022). This not only achieved new brand awareness, but also led to the creation of a new target audience and supplied pre-funding for jewelry production through the minting price. Additionally, the NFT can be used to create a market mechanism which provides valuable insights into willingness to pay and important KYC information.
Starbucks
With its Web3 project "Starbucks Odyssey" brought a breath of fresh air to the loyalty world for more than 60 million loyalty users.
With over 60 million loyalty users worldwide, Starbucks utilizes transparency and personalized rewards to better understand, surprise, and inspire its customers (Starbucks, 2023). Based on the principles of Token collect and Token-gated content, Starbucks was able to achieve transparency with its actual activities and sovereignty over partnerships and create personalized rewards.
Aura
The Aura Consortium uses blockchain to give their products a value proposition for authenticity.
The Aura Consortium, founded by LVMH, Prada Group, Cartier, Richemont and later supported by OTB Group as well as Mercedes Benz, uses blockchain to give their products a value proposition of authenticity (Aura Blockchain Consortium, 2023). Supply chains are simplified by smart contracts, and the continuous traceability of products and materials is guaranteed.
Mercedes-Benz & Polygon
Mercedes-Benz and Polygon created Acentrik, a trusted decentralized data marketplace to encourage users to share data.
With Acentrik the Mercedes-Benz Groups Singapore Hub and Polygon have created a trusted decentralized data marketplace, to encourage users to share data (Polygon, 2022). The tokenization of data guarantees data ownership and authenticity, achieves interoperability for more efficient cross-industry cooperation, and generates new sources of revenue through licensing access.
Sustainable integration
However, to make sure that a Better Tomorrow really is possible with Web3, businesses must promote three central themes: sustainable business models beyond short-term community building, user-friendliness, and interoperability. For this to work, Web3 must be structured so as to be accessible to the general public. It’s also important for Web3 platforms and applications to be compatible with each other and to integrate with existing systems and Web2 platforms.
As shown in figure 2, we have identified the value-added industries and the top 8 Web3 value propositions for companies investing in Web3 activities.
As experts in this sector, we at MHP support our customers in their mission to be the pioneers of Web3.
We focus on "learning by doing" and make use of user-centric creative methods to develop new and sustainable ideas. We enable our customers to develop prototypes and scale them to market with strong business cases and strategies. Including integration with existing systems and cloud infrastructure. The key to success is intensive and goal-oriented communication professionally guided by our innovation and technology experts.
