ODEM Executives in China: Q&A
ODEM CEO Richard Maaghul and ODEM Business Development Chief Ken Finch are traveling to China to meet with early adopters of the ODEM Platform. We’re grateful to Ken for taking time to preview the trip to Beijing and Shanghai.
Ken, why China, why now?
Business development in China has been a high priority for a while. Now is a really exciting time at ODEM. The ODEM Platform is going through some final testing and preparation for its global launch. So we really want to make sure that our most important clients, supporters, and potential partners in China are up to date on key components of the Platform – namely our blockchain-based educational records services and the ODEM Marketplace.
What types of customers does ODEM have in China?
ODEM’s customers include companies that have ongoing business with Excelorators, our sister company. Excelorators’ clients are mainly involved in the marketing of international educational experiences to pre-university students in China who want to acquire knowledge in other countries, including the U.S. We know that Excelorators’ clients are excited about working with ODEM.
Who else will you be meeting with in China?
We’ll be sitting down with people from some of China’s top universities to show how the ODEM Platform can be used to offer educational programs. Any type of program can be marketed through ODEM. We also want to get the educational community in China more familiar with blockchain-based academic certificates. This is our first trip to China since we partnered with the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology to issue blockchain-based certificates.
What challenges does ODEM face in China?
One of the biggest challenges for ODEM overall is that blockchain technology is brand new to many people. While it’s truly something that could change the way that a lot of businesses operate, including education, most people don’t really know how it works and why they should care. We’ll be talking about storing their education records on the blockchain and why it’s something that can help students and educators.
It’s definitely a learning and teaching process for ODEM in China. A lot of the Chinese, although they’ve heard about blockchain, don’t really know anything about it. Using the technology really involves a shift in their thinking because it directly involves giving students control of their educational records.
I tend to look at blockchain as kind of like how the internet transformed our world twenty-five years ago. Now, nobody cares about the technology behind the internet. And when it first emerged, 99.9 percent of people couldn’t imagine the impact the internet would have. Blockchain will have a similar impact. It has the potential to change how financial institutions do business, how doctors and patients interact, and how students and educators engage in lifelong learning. It changes everything.
Ken, thanks for the update. Stay tuned for more updates about ODEM. Join the conversation on Telegram.