Silent Commerce Has Arrived

A cost benefit analysis conducted by Star City revealed that unlike bar codes, which may need to be replaced every one to two years, RFID chips last at least five years —often longer than the garment itself — which means that RFID chips can be reallocated to replacement garments. Silent Commerce techniques save the casino tens of thousands of U.S. dollars per year in bar-code replacement and labor costs. In addition, the system’s readers, which automatically
detect RFID tags within 10 to 30 centimeters, enable Star City to achieve further savings in annual labor costs formerly associated with more manually intensive bar codes.

This Silent Commerce solution ensures an accurate inventory of all 80,000 garments at all times. “The wardrobe management system demonstrates the versatility of Silent Commerce,” says Star City’s CIO. “By automating a labor-intensive manual process, we cleaned up in the savings department with fewer purchases, reduced labor costs, and fewer lost garments.”

A measured start
Several advancements in the Silent Commerce arena are going to make it easier for companies to take advantage of it. Improvements in manufacturing technology and the increased scale of adoption are going to drive down the cost of RFID tags, and Electronic Product Codes (EPCs) will become a reality.

With a dedicated Silent Commerce Center to conduct research and create business applications related to intelligent objects, Accenture is the best placed partner to help companies grasp and adopt Silent Commerce. It is a sponsor and active member of EPCglobal, which is charged with establishing and supporting the EPC Network as the global standard. It also supported the Auto-ID Center, which developed the EPC and related technologies.

Monitoring Silent Commerce vendors, products and trends for more than seven years, Accenture used its insight to design a structured methodology to help you get started. Here’s how you can get onboard.

Step 1
Targeting value: Accenture provides tools and expertise to help you identify where Silent Commerce can benefit your entire value chain, estimate the implementation costs and calculate your return on investment. Accenture has already performed this exercise for several of the leading retail companies in Europe and the United States.

Step 2
Building pilots: Using capabilities acquired by developing a Silent Commerce infrastructure, Accenture can rapidly evaluate middleware solutions and build customizable pilot applications to test and refine hypotheses about costs, potential benefits and changes to work processes after implementation. Accenture has found that when conducted early, pilots offer companies insight into issues such as categories most frequently out of stock or ways of improving specific operations and processes. Accenture is currently conducting pilots for several clients that also identify requirements for integrating Silent Commerce technologies with legacy applications and processes.

Step 3
Scaling the deployment: Following a successful pilot, Accenture helps you scale the deployment of the application across your entire organization, and if appropriate, extend it to key buyers or suppliers. Most supply chain initiatives will be implemented within the next two years as technical and business uncertainties surrounding the widespread deployment of Silent Commerce technologies are resolved.

Act now
The Silent Commerce revolution is underway. To enhance business performance, companies should act now to achieve competitive superiority based on technology innovation. Accenture is a pioneering force in Silent Commerce. The company is breaking new ground with original RFID-based solutions. It is collaborating with influential organizations to establish affordable, global standards, and it continues to investigate the business impact of next-generation technologies.

Accenture’s Silent Commerce practice combines RFID research, development capabilities and deep vertical-industry expertise to help companies grasp the full potential of Silent Commerce, act on it methodically, and maximize their return on investment.

Through our broader technology capabilities — including enterprise integration, SAP implementation and infrastructure services around the world — Accenture leverages its entire organization to deliver comprehensive end-to-end RFID solutions that enhance the business performance of its clients and achieve bankable results. For more information, and to read numerous Accenture white papers and business cases prepared for a wide range of Silent Commerce applications, visit Accenture’s Web site: http://www.accenture.com/silentcommerce

Anticipating Further Benefits