Pervasiveness of RFID technology: A survey based on case studies analysis

RFID technology is no longer an experimental technology but is now widely applied in business processes aiming to increase performance both in public and private sectors. Together with traditional sectors (e.g. logistics, retail), the large potentiality of this technology is supporting its adoption in completely new emerging sectors (e.g. entertainment, payment). Thus, several challenges are still open: one critical point is the application cost; furthermore, as several research studies have pointed out operational as well as strategic benefits, this is yet an open research topic. The aim of the proposed study is to "measure" the adoption level of RFID technology by critically analyzing field study applications: a survey has been performed on case studies published by RFID Journal - a well-known media company - in two years (from January 2010 to January 2012). A specific taxonomy - based on main critical points characterizing RFID application - has been proposed in order to support potential RFID adopters in designing their own application. Results have showed as RFID technology is really pervasive in several sectors and geographical areas, even if the level of diffusion is quite different from one area to another.