RFID: 4 Steps To Do It Right

Design by understanding the specs.
Morris said RFID systems are generally simple enough that once deployed, customers can use one without a lot of training. On the other hand, to sell these custom solutions requires a trained sales and engineering force. The training is not on the technology, but rather on the industry's best practices and to think strategically about a situation. Solution providers should not offer RFID solutions to break into a new vertical; they should stay in verticals they know and understand.

First and foremost, RFID is not a technology sale. While compliance requirements from Wal-Mart and government agencies may be the reason the customer wants to get RFID, it's not enough to just plop in the tags, the readers and database. Solution providers must perceive the problem, the associated risks and pitfalls that make a solution difficult to deploy, and the specific business rules that would apply. Solution providers have to think about how the technology is being used.

For example, one of BrickHouse's clients, a microscope manufacturer, had a problem. The company sends its microscopes to universities, research labs and hospitals for evaluation over a specified period of time. At the end of the evaluation period, when sales engineers show up to take the microscopes back and/or to make a sale, they may discover that the person they initially dealt with is no longer part of the department, or the equipment has been moved around and no one has any idea where that particular microscope is ($40,000 per microscope is a big loss for the manufacturer to swallow).

This microscope manufacturer needed a solution that helped its sales engineers recover the evaluation units with the least amount of frustration. While this seems straightforward, for this to be accomplished there were several things that needed to be specified. Some were simple considerations, such as whether the manufacturer wanted to be able to pinpoint the exact location of the product within a facility (might not work so well in a hospital) or just to establish that the product was still on premises. The facility might be small enough that all the microscopes are, for the most part, in one area—which would simplify tracking. Sometimes the concern may be employees stealing the equipment, not the evaluators. Perhaps different groups have different levels of flexibility in how the evaluation units are used or returned.

Once all the requirements are established, a decision must be made on what kind of information needs to be in the database. While in some cases, a serial number of the evaluation unit and the address of the facility is enough, some more detail might be required to pinpoint location in other cases.

Next: Step 3: Pick the technology.