Why Radio Silence

That was one of the striking conclusions at last week's Forrester Research Executive Strategy Forum in Boston, where RFID was a hot topic. Bottom line: Vendors in other industries,including agriculture, automotive, consumer products and health care,are driving double-digit services revenue for their partners and themselves by using RFID. Computer vendors, for the most part, are a no-show.

Cargill, a $60 billion agricultural giant founded in 1865, is using RFID to create digital maps that are helping farmers improve crop yields. Cargill dealers are using the technology to provide a variety of value-added services, along with Cargill's fertilizer products, to their farmer customers. Those dealers are getting a whopping 35 percent gross margin on those services, while their customers are seeing a much greater return on their crop investments. Cargill, which made the huge RFID investment, has not only improved its own sales and margins as a result, but it has one-upped the competition by tightening what is becoming an inextricable link between the company and its partners.

Likewise, Caterpillar, the world's largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, is driving 50 percent service margins for its partners, who are using RFID to service heavy equipment before it fails. What's even more exciting about the Caterpillar technology is that it can be used on competitors' heavy equipment.

Among the other companies featured at the Forrester conference using RFID technology to empower their dealer networks are Michelin North America, General Motors and Procter & Gamble. One software player staking out a leadership position in supporting the RFID technology is SAP.

Navi Radjou, principal analyst at Forrester, pointed out that aftermarket RFID services demand that vendors partner with their dealer networks. This, he said, is one of the lessons from the aftermath of the dot.com blowout.

Radjou's message to computer industry players with regard to the gains that come from RFID: If it ain't broke, then fix it. Vendors that ignore that advice are going to find themselves beyond repair.