Powerful as it is, RFID is not for everybody, at least yet. The business case for unit level tracking of, say, Barbie dolls, assembled in China and shipped to the US, is much weaker than for a pharmaceutical company trying to track product pedigrees.

Also, RFID is not a panacea. If there are bad, defective processes -- and employees who are determined to behave as criminals -- then this powerful technology by itself is not going to change that.

Finally, the bar codes are not going away soon. If these low cost, established options -- and similar tagging technologies like hologram marks for authentication -- can do the job, then, you may want to wait for a more mature RFID platform before jumping in.

Frequently, the discussion turns to "price of tags" and misses out on a more critical factor. The accommodation of data streams and RFID capability within an enterprise promises to be disruptive -- even if in a good way. For instance, the individualized information from an RFID tag could represent a serial number. If the ERP system does not have the hooks for capturing or recording this information (and many don't), then the advantages of an RFID implementation could get diminished. The ability to understand and act upon RFID data streams requires a detailed review of enterprise architecture, such as its current performance and capacity models and ability to scale.

Today, there is no single RFID application that a company must use. On the other hand, there are several hundreds that could help the business tremendously.

Since RFID tags emit some information, it is possible to get behavior level information that is simply not feasible any other way. For instance, Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires physical inventories to be accurate and trace-capable. RFID can deliver this and similar SOX compliance in a swift, efficient and audit-friendly manner.

The key, of course, is to engage early and experiment often. Coverage issues with RFID and characterization of tags in a particular environment can be tricky, frustrating problems. Businesses that invest early and find out for themselves the limitations of RFID -- and its strengths -- will steal the "First Mover" advantage.

The patents scene with RFID is messy. The intellectual property issues can become sticky points that could affect your deployment plans. There may be a benefit of shared perspectives through alliances and partnership agreements. In the recent past, some of the major players have been involved in litigation. These difficulties will complicate RFID. While there is no complete cure for this, doing due diligence on your own, along with objective self-awareness about gaps in competencies can lead to a meaningful alliance. Given the ups and downs that RFID has seen, partners that can stick with you through the thick and the thin, will make the rough waters more manageable.

Cost of evaluation kits = $20 K

Training and prototyping, including overhead = $80 K

Future-proofing of your company with enduring, user-endorsed technology = Priceless!