Evangelizing RFID

I am acutely aware of the need to deliver value to our premium members, and to those who attend our events. And just saying RFID is great isn't going to cut it. Showing them how and where RFID delivers value, however, will get them to renew their premium membership, and to come back to our events. So will pointing out that RFID won't work for a specific application, or that a company is better off using bar codes or ultrasound technology. (I owe my friends at Sonitor a mention here, because I mistakenly said, at the event, that their products use infrared technology.)

Now, that might not be exactly what RFID companies that advertise on our Web site and in our magazine, or that exhibit at our events, want to hear. Their job, after all, is to sell RFID hardware, software and services. But the savvy ones understand that selling 1,000 interrogators, or a million tags, for an application that doesn't require such products won't earn them any loyalty. And the reality is that RFID delivers so much value, in so many applications and so many industries, that there's just no need to oversell it.

We conducted a survey of those who attended this year's LIVE! event, and asked, "Did you come away from this event with new ideas that could help your company make or save money?" Of the 157 people who responded, 78 percent said yes, while only 3 percent said no, with 19 percent undecided.

I feel very good about those numbers. Now, some may read the above statistics and say I'm an evangelist with converts, but I prefer to think of myself as a journalist and businessman who provides quality, objective information people can use to make smart business decisions. And the smart business decision for tracking assets, work-in-process and some products in the supply chain, as well as for many other applications, is to employ RFID. Amen.

Mark Roberti is the founder and editor of RFID Journal. If you would like to comment on this article, click on the link below. To read more of Mark's opinions, visit the RFID Journal Blog or click here.