Selling RFID technology? NOW you are connected

New data and new possibilities

Using new streams of data from dynamic new auto-identification technologies creates new challenges and new opportunities. If you are in the business of implementing RFID successfully for clients, then they rely on you to have the answers.

The first thing to keep in mind when approaching any RFID software development, is that the RFID part comes last. To be successful you must begin with what it is you want to accomplish and work your way back. The part RFID plays is it allows you to remove many previous limitations.

RFID can open streams of data previously unavailable. You can track and evaluate elements of a work flow or other process that had never been trackable. You can combine elements that had never been combine-able, such as in a hospital where they track the usage of an IV bag and instruct the billing system which insurance company to bill, all in a blink.

The consistent factor is what you know – the magic of RFID is all in the knowing. That raises many questions. For example, if you have a busy warehouse and you could tell at every moment of every day, precisely where each carton of goods is, do you care? How does that help you? Are you going to save that data? If yes, are you saving it day by day, hour by hour or minute by minute? Just because you can do something in theory does not make it valuable in practice.

But information is power. Look how Just In Time manufacturing changed the efficiency level of suppliers globally. Without the information component, it never could have happened. Now, with RFID, JIT looks downright creaky.