Section 7.3. RFID Strategy to Deployment Strategy

7.3. RFID Strategy to Deployment Strategy

An enterprise RFID strategy serves as a high-level roadmap for adoption of RFID technology. How does a business navigate this roadmap to a deployment strategy? This section answers this question.

A business-justification team can use the broad outline of an RFID strategy to identify specific areas in which the technology might deliver its benefits in a relatively quick manner (see Chapter 8, "Creating Business Justification for RFID"). The team uses the corresponding business cases and roadmaps to plan the first iteration of the implementation. Only one business case should be selected for thisthe most promising (the top-priority business case). Because RFID is an emerging technology, you should choose the optimum business case and use it as an acid test to validate benefit assumptions. Venturing out with multiple suboptimal choices might dilute the focus and resources of the business.

The first implementation of a business case typically takes the form of a pilot, in which a scoped-out version of the case is attempted. The pilot also represents the first milestone of the business case roadmap. The design and implementation of the pilot should be completed (see Chapter 9, "Designing and Implementing an RFID Solution") within a specific time frame (neither too short nor too long). Pilots tend to be on the shorter side, spanning about eight weeks or so. Depending on scope and complexity, however, the pilot might require a longer time frame for design and implementation. After the pilot has been implemented, its actual benefits must be measured and compared against the business case. With this information in hand, it is possible to fine-tune the business case to align expectations closer with reality. The experience achieved from the pilot implementation serves as a base to design and implement the next iterationthe second milestone of the roadmap. The successful implementation of this iteration, and each subsequent iteration, is then used as a platform on which to build the next tiers of the solution.

The entire business case is thus implemented in a series of iterations rather than a single monolithic chunk. The reasons for this are twofold. First, for each iteration, the implementation and deployment risks, costs, and complexity are kept in check. Second, the impact of the solution on the existing business processes is limited to a particular iteration. Therefore, these factors can be controlled and tackled methodically. In addition, in an extreme situation, if an RFID system fails to deliver on its promises and must be abandoned, a business can do so at minimum cost and with limited impact on the business processes (as compared to a monolithic implementation).

After the business case with the highest priority has been executed, the business case at the next priority level can be implemented in a similar manner. You repeat this process until you have implemented all the required business cases. Figure 7-1 shows the entire flow.

Figure 7-1. A schematic of RFID strategy to deployment strategy flow.