Eating Your Own Dog Food: Cognizant Uses RFID to Track Laptops
The global technology solutions company is currently deploying an asset-tracking system throughout its development facilities worldwide.
By Bob Violino
Jan. 21, 2008—Cognizant Technology Solutions is a global provider of IT, consulting and business process outsourcing services, with more than 45,000 employees worldwide. The company allocates laptop computers to more than 10,000 of its workers, and keeping track of these assets can be a major challenge.
For years, Cognizant has employed an application based on Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to track laptops as they are issued to employees and returned to the company, and as they are taken into and out of the firm's facilities. Before entering a Cognizant facility, employees with laptops must fill out a paper "gate pass" and submit it to a security guard, then retrieve the pass before leaving. The pass identifies the laptop and the person to whom it has been assigned.
Although the manual system works adequately, it has several limitations, says Rakesh Kumar, Cognizant's business development manager. Tracking the entry and exit of laptops requires that computer users and corporate security remember to issue and return the passes. The manual method is also time-consuming, and as the company grows, personnel at the front desks of Cognizant facilities will not be able to keep up with the increasing volumes of laptops entering and leaving the premises.
Jan. 21, 2008—Cognizant Technology Solutions is a global provider of IT, consulting and business process outsourcing services, with more than 45,000 employees worldwide. The company allocates laptop computers to more than 10,000 of its workers, and keeping track of these assets can be a major challenge.
For years, Cognizant has employed an application based on Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to track laptops as they are issued to employees and returned to the company, and as they are taken into and out of the firm's facilities. Before entering a Cognizant facility, employees with laptops must fill out a paper "gate pass" and submit it to a security guard, then retrieve the pass before leaving. The pass identifies the laptop and the person to whom it has been assigned.
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| Cognizant's RFID Center of Excellence has conceptualized, developed and implemented an RFID-based laptop tracking system. |
Although the manual system works adequately, it has several limitations, says Rakesh Kumar, Cognizant's business development manager. Tracking the entry and exit of laptops requires that computer users and corporate security remember to issue and return the passes. The manual method is also time-consuming, and as the company grows, personnel at the front desks of Cognizant facilities will not be able to keep up with the increasing volumes of laptops entering and leaving the premises.
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