It's the People, Not Technology

Filed in archive Implementation on February 24, 2005

The recent GS1 meeting in Brussels brought together executives and officials from 90 countries to discuss RFID and bar coding.

GS1 brings together two standards bodies for electronic product coding: the Uniform Code Council in the United States and the EAN International for the European market.

The meeting brought the usual statements about the huge potential for RFID. I won't repeat them -- you've read them before and by now they're old hat.

But one comment stood out, as reported by the story in SiliconRepublic.com:

"However, just because the interest is there, it does not guarantee the success of RFID. Bill Grize, CEO of Ahold US and a member of the management board of GS1, offered an insight into the problems facing the rollout of RFID technology worldwide.

"What is the big challenge facing RFID? Ourselves and time," said the engaging, grizzled veteran of the US retail industry who, as head of Ahold US, controls a retail and food service operation turning more than US$44bn annually.

Grize's thesis was that people were always the biggest barriers to progress. He saw a schism among the businesses that were embracing RFID -- between those that had a short-term outlook and those that were more visionary about it. The former group sees RFID as a way to cut costs; the latter sees it as the bedrock of future business relationships. "If you apply RFID and don't give it back to the customer, it's a short-term kick to your business," Grize claimed.

Grize also felt that too many businesses were still locked in an adversarial mindset, seeing RFID as an opportunity to get one over on their competitors rather than improve the efficiency of the industry as a whole. Co-operation rather than competition was needed instead to make RFID a success, he contended.

His conclusion was clear: products and standards are only one part of the equation. RFID will never take off unless businesses -- primarily retailers and consumer goods manufacturers -- agree to work together towards this common goal."