RFID's and ERP systems

Filed in archive Technology on October 29, 2003

Business 2.0 draws some interesting conclusions about dreams and reality of integrating RFIDs with modern ERP systems.

"More data means that corporations will be able to keep better track of their parts and product inventories at all times, and react faster to the minutest change in demand. The RFID tags on every box and pallet -- not to mention every soda bottle, hair dryer, and DVD -- will create such a flood of information that the enterprise software that runs most companies today won't be able to handle it."
"The enterprise software that runs everything from manufacturing systems to inventory management to logistics and even databases is accustomed to processing information in digestible batches. In an RFID world, those batches of inventory and logistics data will become a constant stream. Business folks who think they are operating in "real time" today will come to appreciate the true meaning of the term."
"The underlying structure of enterprise software is designed to handle data in batches, not in constant streams. "All the software that feeds into the ERP systems [is] going to have to change," notes Jim Watson, a partner at CMEA Ventures (which is an investor in RFID startup Alien Technologies). To be sure, every enterprise-software company from SAP to IBM is working on the problem. And undoubtedly they will come up with data-filtering methods and other software workarounds. But, as Watson adds, "any time there is a change in the entire [software] stack, that is an opportunity for entrepreneurs."