NCR Promotes RFID Cards to Give Customers the VIP Treatment

The NCR RFID Branch Portal interrogates cards embedded with a passive UHF Gen 2 RFID tag sporting a read range of 3 to 4 feet. The tag's unique ID number, which can be encrypted for additional security, would be read by two antennas, one on each side of the entrance door. The number would be sent via Ethernet to a teller station, the branch manager's PC or a personal digital assistant (PDA), linked to the customer and his data, initiating prompt, personalized service.

NCR is using prototypical software to demonstrate the concept, says Dan White, a technical consultant for NCR's retail solutions division. The prototype software displays a customer's account information on a branch manager's PC or PDA. "Any real software would need to be incorporated within the bank's applications structure," he notes.

Dan White

"We built this application six months ago," says Grossi. "It's all about providing more personalized service."

Retailers, White explains, "would love to know the consumers [and their purchasing habits] when they come in." With such data, for example, they could determine what a customer bought last week and recommend an item to go with it. Such a system would also make it easier for a husband or wife to purchase a birthday gift since the previous purchase history would show the sizes the spouse wears, as well as any other items they may have purchased at that specific store.

NCR is testing the system in its lab to make sure it works, according to Grossi, and is talking with several banks in Europe and Canada. "We regularly bring customers to our research facilities," says White, "as it gives them an opportunity to test-drive some of the latest technology innovations for banking, as well as retail."

The goal of this application, White explains, is "to pilot and eventually roll out this type of RFID portal application within an actual customer environment—for example, a bank branch." Retail companies, he adds, have also begun discussing the system with NCR, though no specific date has yet been set for pilots with any banks or retailers.