CompTIA Research

Summary of “The State of RFID: Third Annual Member Survey”

Survey Information

In order to better understand the IT Channel's current intentions for addressing RFID and current skill levels, CompTIA launched this survey for the third consecutive year. Conducting such a benchmark study allows for the comparison of results to previous years, which can show how the state of RFID may have changed. The survey was released via e-mail invitations to reseller members and in the Computing Channels and Solution Provider Access e-newsletters on Feb. 14, 2007. The survey closed on March 19, 2007 with 64 responses.

The majority (81%) of respondents reside in North America, with 11% in Europe. More than one-half (58%) are a Reseller/VAR/Solutions Provider. Sixty percent of companies primarily server clients in the Finance/Insurance/Real Estate industry. Other top industries being served include Services- 53%, Government or Manufacturing- 47% each, Healthcare- 45%, Retail- 39% and Communications- 34%.

Key Findings

Most respondents’ clients have not implemented RFID solutions (66%), and 30 percent say fewer than 20 percent of their clients have implemented RFID solutions. Eighty-four percent of respondents say their company will or might offer RFID products/services in the next three years. Twenty-eight percent said they definitely would, and 56 percent said they would consider it if their clients or customers expressed an interest.

Among those respondents that definitely or possibly see their company offering RFID products/services, most (89%) believe they will focus on hardware installation/maintenance. Forty-six percent felt the focus would be on software implementations (vs. 73% in 2006 and 62% in 2005).

The top three challenges respondents believe their company will face in offering RFID have remained the same the past three years. However, they have been becoming less prominent: Gaining clients/customers for RFID solutions went down more than 10 percent to 46 percent (vs. 59% in 2006 and 56% in 2005). Training and educating staff on RFID technology has decreased
by 23 percent since 2005 and is now at 44 percent (vs. 50% in 2006 and 67% in 2005). Overcoming initial RFID implementation hurdles has decreased the most, 29 percent and now stands at 43 percent (vs. 60% in 2006 and 72% in 2005).

Nearly one-half of all respondents (45%) have investigated the technology but have not yet implemented it, while 42 percent have no experience and have not investigated. Eight percent have implemented one or more RFID pilot projects for themselves or a client.

More than two-thirds (69%) believe there is not a sufficient ‘pool of talent’ in RFID technology to hire from (vs. 75% in 2006 and 80% in 2005). And 68% of these respondents say the lack of individuals skilled in RFID technology will impact the adoption of RFID technology (vs. 80% in 2006 and 53% in 2005).

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