One of biggest concerns Dish Network faced in new millennium was how to continue to provide their award-winning customer service cost effectively. Customer service was performed completely over telephone at a cost of $5 to $15 each call. Dish looked to technology to provide additional venues where customer service interactions could play themselves out. This led to solutions that would be available through customer's satellite receiver at home and online solutions, where customer could view and make changes to their account without requiring services of an employee, thus providing same customer service while cutting down on costs. The lesson that should be learned from this example is that technology, when implemented correctly, can save costs and increase efficiency with which we are able to provide services to our customers.

The magnitude of work required to produce and integrate Dish Network's new customer service solutions is baffling. Now consider that they planned for and implemented technological changes to their customer service process in less than five months. The home business principle to learn from this is speed is a necessity, not a luxury. To compete with your competitors, you need to provide same product at a higher quality, faster speed, or lower price. What changes do you need to make in order to streamline your business? Is there something that you are doing now that you could do without? By all means, weigh your options carefully and make a decision you feel comfortable with. But once decision is made, move on it. Your customers will appreciate your decisiveness and innovation.

Dish Network is a thriving business, due in large part to way they analyze and execute their business strategy. Using equal discretion, innovation, and decisiveness could boost your business as well.

Encouraged by their success, British retailers Marks & Spencer and Germany’s Metro AG quickly adopted RFID applications in their production and distribution channels. The US Department of Defense, Benetton, CVS, Home Depot, Gap, Target, Kohl’s, Tesco, Coca Cola and Albertsons have all begun incorporating RFID into their supply chain operations. In 2004 Wal-Mart issued a mandate that their Top 100 suppliers become RFID compliant by 2005, and FDA plans to convert to item-level RFID distribution tracking by 2007.

In spite of strong industry support for RFID, widespread adoption of technology has been slow. One reason for delay is lack of uniform standards for network and data management. For example, smart tags are currently available in low, high or ultra-high frequency versions, with read ranges of as little as a few inches to as much as 30 feet. AIM Global is a consortium of RFID developers and suppliers who are working to establish global RFID standards. Their goal is to educate manufacturers and suppliers about potential benefits of RFID, and to provide education and resources necessary to realize ROI from use of this technology.

Cost and quality concerns have further dampened enthusiasm for RFID. Tag failure rates are reported to be as high as 20% to 30%. At an average cost of $.30 per tag, many suppliers find prospect of item-level tagging prohibitive.

So far, RFID compliance has been responsibility of suppliers. Retailers have generally refused to accept any price increases resultant from RFID start-up expenses. As a result, suppliers have had to either absorb cost of becoming RFID compliant or risk losing lucrative commercial contracts.

However, as RFID becomes norm manufacturers will look for converters who can provide pre-tagged packaging that is market-standard compliant and ready for entry into RFID regulated supply chain.

Technology is inherently evolutionary. The logistics of RFID are changing rapidly, with ongoing advancements in ink, labels and methods of smart tag attachment. In a future article I will explore specific developments in converting techniques and impact of this compelling technology on packaging industry.