A report by analyst Regan, Jacob and Sydney says 2006 will
be the year when radio frequency identification (RFID) crosses the
chasm into mainstream maturity.
Despite the many grey areas surrounding the technology, processes
and suppliers, positive feedback from the likes of retail giant
Wal-Mart is propelling the market forward.
“Wal-Mart is not only making more money since RFID has been adopted
– it is doing it without having solved all the problems yet,” says
the report.
It also points to successes with the US Department of Defense,
Boeing, TNT Express and other non-retail early adopters of
RFID.
But any company considering RFID needs to choose where they get
their advice carefully, the report warns.
“Horror stories abound as customers found many large IT consulting
firms did not have the talent or the domain knowledge to help
deploy RFID. One large firm admitted to us that its PR spending in
RFID was aimed at creating the impression it was an RFID player,
while the reality was it had few customers, and few successes,” the
report points out.
The bulk of RFID consultancy work, says the report, will go to
small companies and less than 10% will go to large consultancies
and services organisations.
As large suppliers such as Oracle and SAP buy their way to RFID
expertise and many smaller suppliers seek IPOs, the supplier
landscape will also shift considerably this year.