Synopsis
This document is aimed at highlighting the critical issues that face companies that seek to deploy and benefit from RFID technology. The fact that RFID has been introduced for commercial use by a dozen odd mandates, has ensured a deviation from the organic growth path normally available to any technology which requests commercial viability.

This, in return has thrown the current RFID adoption into many grey spots, and customers and IT companies are trying to come to terms with those. SkandSoft Technologies has spent over 3 years in understanding the various nuances of this technology to arrive at the most viable approach to solutions in this space.

Introduction
Despite being in existence for many decades now, RFID has been a new entrant amongst commercially accepted technologies. There is immense promise in the use of RFID for a wide spectrum of industrial domains and applications areas. As an evolved data capture technology that is enhanced by its ability to deliver superior data quality in Real Time, RFID is powered to help business enterprises to improve efficiency across the board.

The initial exaggeration of this technology, which was amplified by the huge mandates by large retail chains like Wal-Mart and organizations like the Dept of Defense US, are now being smoothened by the harsh limitations, which are real and true for every technology.

As companies affected by the various RFID mandates try and arrive at possible compliance solutions, there is also a keen focus on the road ahead, after the compliance is done and over with. Huge efforts and resources are going into the compliance phase and companies are eager to ensure some scalability for providing adequate internal ROI.

RFID, and more importantly the mandate phase have received mixed reactions from a cross section of the business community. Conflicting research reports and disparate ground level results from the initial attempts at compliance have not made things easy for companies trying to find the right answer. Advocates of the RIGHT approach spread from the ship and slap, to bolt-on solutions to other RFID-centric platform solutions. Each perception being relative to the concern being answered from individual business contexts.

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" Driving RFID for Business not getting the Business driven by RFID technology"

Investing many hundreds of man years into detailed research and analysis of RFID technology and the possible impact it could have on various aspects of business, SkandSoft Technologies, has evolved a rounded approach to the utility of this technology in the business domain.

The Three Pillars

Limitations
SkandSoft recognizes the importance of first being fully aware of the limitations of any technology for being able to optimally drive it to meet business needs. Though RFID is an explosive option for many of the existing business process facilitators, fundamentally it is just another data capture technology, albeit, with many powerful features like Real Time data, more superior to bar code, no line of sight required etc.. A thorough grip on the limitations of RFID ensures that the SkandSoft approach is in full control of exploiting RFID, bereft of any gaps and pit falls occurring through deficiency in the knowledge of technology or from exaggerations.

Constant touch with business reality
SkandSoft has learnt from the growth curves of various technologies along the years, that despite being very powerful many technologies have failed to take off simply because they failed to connect with ground level business objectives. The transition from research labs to the shop floors came about with large dissipation in utility.

Bridging the disconnect
SkandSoft has invested a major part of its resources to ensure that each new possibility with RFID was constantly mapped with actual and real business concerns and objectives.

The SkandSoft approach to RFID mirrors the three pillars on which we have established the CONQUER model. The CONQUER model addresses specific key areas to ensure short-term objectives being safely enveloped in long-term scalability with ample space for ROI.

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The CONQUER approach - from data to information to action to reaction to value
The CONQUER approach attempts to have a consolidated view of the entire activity cycle around a RFID application working 24x7 in a business environment. This rounded approach aids to not only synchronize efficiency across the cycle but also leads to vital areas for ROI mining.

SkandSoft CONQUER Approach

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C
		The first component of the model deals with efficiently managing the collection and control of data from the RFID hardware grid. Ability to collect RFID reader. Multi-protocol, frequency and vendor Ability to constantly monitor the data collection device grid for the health of all the data collection points To provide features to inform the system of any hardware failure and actiate contingency plans

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O
		Post efficient collection of the data thrown up by the RFID grid, the unstructured data needs to be parsed and filtered. Get the data from multiple sources into a standard format to make the higher layers independent of hardware details Append the data streams with physical context – Time stamp, location etc. To enable comparative and collaborative treatment of data in further layers To filter hardware air-interface anomalies and hardware level errors like multiple reads, mid-reads etc. To enable low-level filtering like EPC filtering, masking etc.

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N
		The data that has been affected with first level parsing and filtering needs to be transformed into valuable information for business relevance. Ability to view the data streams from different perspectives Each data read will go through various filters to gauge applicability of the data stream Extract relevance for each pre-defined application area Replicate the data streams with identified relevance post-filtering Pass on the same to Qualifier engines

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Q
		The valuable business information now needs to be mapped with business context. Apply business context through defining business process Allow users to define information consumers and their dependence on defined business process Allow users to define critical events on the basis of defined context Allow users to define actions on the basis of events

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U
		Business Information subjected to context processing needs to be efficiently shared and collaborated internally and externally. Ability to define sampling points to share and collaborate information Ability to define various external data formats and collaboration context Define and control access to and feedback from vendors and suppliers Ability to define business specific reports on the basis of contextualized information, access the same from anywhere in Real Time

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E
		Pass on the selectively filtered, contextualized data for integration with enterprise resources and applications for efficient decision-making. Feed the results of Selective Filtering and contextualized information to existing business applications Integrate seamlessly with enterprise applications to facilitate better decision making and to get Real Time visibility Replace manual, inefficient updates with automatic, qualified information streams

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R
		All the boundaries and exceptions brought out by applying context to the business information need to be controlled by executing actions. Execute decisions on exception basis using inputs from Enterprise Applications Execute actions on the basis of contextualized events Implement closed loop feedback by integrating with Industrial control Systems Alert personnel in multiple modes

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Conclusion
The CONQUER approach powers SETU™ with adequate flexibility to handle unstructured data, understanding the data from a business-centric focus, treat it accordingly before passing it seamlessly to the enterprise and facilitate any reaction that the enterprise would like to execute. Collaboration of data across various business process components which is key to driving ROI is enhanced by the CONQUER approach. This optimizes the value of technologies like RFID, which have the ability to throw up data continuously. It would be vital therefore to constantly monitor the quantum and quality of data to help derive maximum returns from investments in this space. SETU™ built on the CONQUER model is inherently designed to squeeze the maximum value out of RFID technology and is sensitive to cater to the requirements of any industry vertical or application area.

For further information on SkandSoft Technologies or SETU™
please write to us at info@skandsoft.com