“In times of economic slowdown, a quick positive return on investment is especially important to potential RFID users,” says practice director Michael Liard. “We asked the respondents to our survey about their hopes and expectations for ROI on their RFID investments. While a substantial majority saw 12-24 months as a reasonable expectation, more than one third anticipated a return within the first year.” Results in brief: Less than 12 months: 36,7 percent 12-18 months: 25,0 percent 18-24 months: 13,3 percent More than 24 months: 6,7 percent Do not know: 18,3 percent These responses included all flavors of RFID deployment: closed- and open-loop across a variety of applications, and at various stages of trials, rollouts, and fully deployed systems. One of the great problems in formulating useful ROI models and setting goals has been the reluctance of many end-users to share what they have learned. “It’s tough,” says Liard, “and has been holding parts of the industry back. But somebody who’s getting great results with RFID is often understandably wary of letting competitors know how much more competitive it is making them. But if we want this market to move forward in a recession, we need to start talking about these things as proactively as we can.” Some RFID projects are still moving forward; others have been delayed by the recession, or put on hold. “The good thing,” Liard concludes, “is that we’re not hearing much about cancellations. That’s a positive sign.” www.abiresearch.com