An impressive 69% of retail suppliers say they have plans to evaluate, pilot, or implement RFID technology in the supply chain during 2005, according to a new survey from AMR Research, which also found that the average RFID budget for the year is more than US$548,000.

     In the wake of so many retail and government RFID mandates, the survey by AMR Research was created to assess the RFID market from 2005 to 2007. Examining the results, AMR found that while this year''s average budget stands at US$548,000 it will increase to US$771,000 by 2007. 116.30.151.81 This article is copyright 2005 UsingRFID.com.

     According to AMR, among the key factors driving their implementation of RFID, mandate compliance comes first for most respondents. With the hype surrounding RFID technology in recent years, the report, based on a survey of 500 companies conducted with RFID Journal (www.rfidjournal.com, identified several key issues facing the RFID market:

 

     The opportunity for market technology leadership in RFID is wide open, with no one vendor establishing an early leadership position.
 
     The majority of survey respondents cited significant challenges finding the return on investment (ROI) to justify their RFID spending. In fact, 28% cited it specifically as their biggest

obstacle with regard to RFID adoption.
 
     A lack of standards maturity continues to be a key factor, especially for process manufacturers; only 29% believe the standards have reached an appropriate level of maturity.

     According to Dennis Gaughan, research director for AMR Research, "RFID is still in its formative years. The market will be hotly contested across all technology segments from tags and readers through middleware and enterprise applications."

Deployment stages
While only 8% of companies are currently in full deployment, another 61% said they plan to evaluate, pilot, or implement RFID in 2005. The survey split was as follows:

 

Currently in pilot use: 23%
Currently in full deployment: 8%
Plan to implement for the first time in 2005: 12%
Plan to evaluate in 2005: 26%
Plan to evaluate in 2006: 12%
Have no plans for RFID: 18%

     As RFID is an early market, AMR Research recommends users develop a long term strategy for RFID in their organisation as well as short term tactical requirements for meeting today''s needs. Vendors of the technology should work to combine different technology segments effectively and at a good cost of ownership in order to vie for market leadership.

     According to AMR, vendors that can help customers find and exploit positive business models will win.

 

 

 

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