- AIM Global is conducting a new survey of companies that use or building AIDC based technology solutions to understand how they use the technology.
- The survey comes following a similar one in 2022 that found ERP and other software systems and AI at the center for AIDC deployments.
Standards organization AIM Global is conducting an industry study with research firm Burnell Reports to understand the drivers, challenges and overall status of automatic identification and data collection (AIDC) technology deployments.
To better understand how this technology—AIDC includes any systems that identify things—is being adopted, or considered, they are inviting companies and individuals to take part in a survey. Results from the online survey will add to the knowledge gained from a similar study in 2022 that found adoption of a variety of technologies taking place in concert with other business investments. That included expansion of enterprise resource planning (ERP) warehouse house management (WMS) systems, Internet of Things (IoT), and point of sale (PoS) as well as inventory management.
The latest survey is intended for research purposes only. All responses will be kept confidential and anonymous and will be reported in aggregate, said Mary Lou Bosco, AIM Global’s CEO. Responders can sign in now until Friday, Feb 28. Access can for end-users of AIDC systems can be found here, and here for solution providers and resellers.
Providing Unbiased Assessment for the Industry
AIM Global is a non-profit education, advocacy and standards organization that serves the AIDC industry—including those who use, implement, resell, develop or build systems using asset tracking technologies such as RFID, bar- and QR-codes, NFC, and real-time locating systems (RTLS). While there have been other AIDC-based surveys conducted in recent years, Bosco said AIM members have indicated they need an unbiased and trusted report from an unaffiliated organization such as theirs.
The goal is to understand the latest climate for AIDC technology beyond the technology itself, said John Burnell, principal of Burnell Reports. AIM is hoping to receive at least 100 responses from each focus group: end-user and solution provider.
Without a wider understanding of the business needs of their customers, technology companies can find themselves in a bubble. “They can lose sight of what enterprises are doing,” said Burnell, especially those related to software, AI and wider spectrums of business development to improve efficiency, all of which could influence AIDC adoption.
2022 Reported Findings
The results from AIM Global and Burnell Report’s study in 2022 affirmed the standards organization’s hypothesis that AIDC adoption was taking place not for the sake of the technology itself, but as part of other software investments.
“[AIDC] is supporting WMS, it’s supporting an inventory control system, it’s supporting field service automation,” said Burnell. “So we wanted to see what were the levers that were bringing AIDC into the enterprise.”
Wide-scale ERP investments, for instance, gain from having accurate data from barcode systems or RFID. However, there may be a lack of understanding about that inter-dependence.
AIDC Augmenting Other Investments
Within the results of the 2022 survey, the organization found motivations to deploy AIDC in conjunction with overall enterprise automation and investments. An unexpected result was incentives were not always what the researchers expected.
“One of the questions was, ‘how much does labor shortage influence what you’re doing?’ and results found that labor was not a great influence. That just puzzled me so we’re asking that question again,” Burnell said.
A wider variety of industries may respond to the survey. Healthcare is among industries showing a growing interest in automated data about their assets and inventory. And how AI affects adoption of AIDC will be another question.
“With AI growth, how much is that taking money away that could be invested in AIDC technologies, I think that’s something I’m really going to be watching for,” Burnell said.
Targeting End Users, Solution Providers
The survey is directed at two parties—those who have or may adopt AIDC technology and those who build such systems or resell them to their own customers.
“We want to see if there are disconnects between how the vendors perceive the technology is being viewed and kind of the value to it and how it should be sold,” said Bosco.
Once completed, AIM members will receive a free copy of the results and nonmembers can purchase that report. Burnell will host a session discussing the results at AIM Global’s annual meeting on April 10 at the Zebra Technologies facility in in Holtsville, NY. That will be followed by a members-only webinar in May to discuss the results.
Those who are willing to share their contact information might get contacted by Burnell for any clarifications, but he asserted that there’s no requirement for that. “They’re already being generous with their time to fill out the survey,” he said.
No Experts Required
There will be no direct sales or promotions as a result of their participation. AIM simply wants to give stakeholders the opportunity to share their experiences and opinions, Bosco said. And questions for the survey are similar to those asked three years ago as “we’re measuring levels of change,” he said.
There are a few new questions focusing on the EU Commission’s pending mandate digital product passport (DPP) and the GS1 Sunrise 2027 initiative that would make barcodes capable of storing an EPC number, similar to that of an RFID tag.
Ultimately, Bosco said “we’re taking a temperature check on the maturity of the market, as well as if there are regional differences, how many people are preparing to meet coming mandates or initiatives and how aggressively they are preparing.”