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Technology is changing every minute. So, unless someone is really savvy about it, the prospect of investigating the latest technological changes may not only be remote, but frankly, quite intimidating. RFID – Improving the Customer Experience, however, belongs to the proverbial “chip off the old block”. It is a book about technology and yet, it is written for the common man. The book shows how the average reader can become more knowledgeable about how we can harness the tremendous power of the chip to improve our everyday life, become more efficient, save time for other important work and yet, cut down cost and wastage while doing all this. The smart marketer can potentially use several ideas floated in this book to give his/her business a jumpstart, establish along‐term relationship with the customer, improve the bottom line of the organization, and in the end, deliver world‐class service!
At 264 information‐filled‐no‐frills pages, this is solid reading for the typical reader. The first chapter introduces the concept of “radio frequency identification” (RFID), which is basically a chip with barcodes that can be inserted in any product. The barcode, which contains critical information about the product and/or its owner, can be read using radio frequency delivered by a transmitter, thereby eliminating the need for human intervention. The second and third chapters illustrate how extensive use of such technology can potentially lead to better customer relationship management (CRM). Chapters 4 and 5 talk about the implications of the technology from the customer's perspective; Chapter 5 is devoted to privacy, safety and security concerns, which play a big role in today's use of technology. Similar concerns are reflected in Chapter 9 (authentication and product safety) and Chapter 10 (admissions, permissions, and tickets). It is perhaps not a surprise why the author spent so much effort on bringing up the privacy and security aspects of the RFID technology, given people's experience swith Internet commerce and credit card transactions in recent years. Chapters 6 and 7 basically reiterate what the first two explained: how RFID can improve the bottom line of the organizations either by providing a new business model through more efficient asset tracking or in a retail environment. Brazeal discusses how other sectors can also be positively impacted by this technology,...