Jan. 1, 2004—According to a recent Accenture study, companies with the best growth in earnings reinvest up to 10 percent more of their IT budgets on upgrading to newer technologies than does the average company.

One area of technology innovation in which savvy companies are investing is Silent Commerce. This refers to business benefits derived from new types of applications that can track and monitor objects remotely, without people being involved. It is enabled by emerging tagging and tracking technologies, such as radio-frequency identification, combined with continuous Internet connectivity.


Accenture’s Silent Commerce solutions provide smart, proven approaches for transforming back-office business processes and customer support and service activities. Accenture collaborates with customers to identify innovative solutions with the highest potential for payoff for their specific situations.

These technologies don’t have to be new or bleeding edge. Basic Silent Commerce applications have been quietly permeating our daily routines over the past few years. If you have a commuter pass that enables you to drive through freeway tollbooths and be billed later, you are using Silent Commerce. Every time you step across an anti-theft threshold in a store doorway, you are experiencing a simple form of Silent Commerce.
Many private- and public-sector companies are already starting to use more advanced Silent Commerce solutions to create new value for customers, transform supply chains, improve the efficiency and performance of existing operations, and save money. Here are some examples.

Transforming the supply chain
Accenture worked with a leading manufacturer of construction equipment to maximize the utilization of its dealers’ rental fleets. To streamline the process of checking rental equipment in and out, the solution connects inventory, service and delivery functions seamlessly in real time, anywhere rental store assets are deployed.