Title:
The
Business Case for RFID: Challenges and Opportunities
Abstract:
RFID (Radio
Frequency Identification Devices) are one of the next generations of
technologies which could have widespread repercussions through business
and society. There is a low level of RFID knowledge in business with
much of the understanding and orientation currently held by
technologists as they battle with both the technology itself and the
standards. However as the benefits of RFID become more apparent,
strategists and top management are beginning to pay attention.
Although RFID has been available since the early twentieth century,
most potential users of RFID and in turn the strategic decision makers
with regard to RFID are not as yet familiar with the issues,
opportunities and challenges of such an advanced technology. This
paper explores the potential of RFID and sets it in the context of the
assimilation of information technology. This approach capitalises on
what we have learnt from the diffusion of other technologies into
business, many of which were seen as ‘magic bullets’ or with the
potential to provide optimum solutions but which have not lived up to
expectations (Markus and Benjamin, 1997; Drummond, 1998; Verleye and De
Marez, 2005). This paper takes a uniquely strategic and business
information perspective in relation to the challenges and value that
RFID deployment can bring to organisations, particularly along national
and international supply chains. Organisation must assess how to
drive inventory and cycle time down, while managing the world-wide
physical and information flows created by RFID. It is contested that
unless these issues are addressed and dealt with properly, management
runs the risk of letting uncertain global environment defeat the
investment proposal of RFID.
Authors: John
Murray, Mairead Brady, Louis Brennan, and Corinne
Armstrong