Aviation:

International Air Transport Association (IATA) has mandated that by 2018, airlines must track each pieces of baggage that comes in at check-in and goes out at arrival. It means that airlines will need to analyse their existing monitoring systems, and implement appropriate technology which can do this in a fool-proof manner while saving on cost and time. Delta Airlines, one of America’s top airlines, has invested over $50million in RFID for baggage tracking and management. Delta Airlines have realized that RFID signals can be picked by receivers 99.85% of times as compared to a 90% success rate of manual scanners. And, the difference of 8% could be the cause that leads to loss or delay of more than 20 million baggage pieces. RFID in baggage tracking will lead to a considerable reduction in lost baggage by 2024 and will enable the air transport industry to save over $3 billion within the next seven years. In addition, airline operators, maintenance and repair organizations (MROs) and manufacturers across the supply chain will rely on RFID to streamline the pace of operations, and ensure fastest possible turnaround for passenger as well as cargo flights.

The scope of RFID in aviation is immense. At Dolphin, we are privy to this global interest and are feeling the pulse in the form of requests from our foreign partners for helping airlines in the respective countries to implement RFID systems to gain a clear business advantage. In India, we are in talks with multiple airlines to help them to adhere to the IATA guidelines and be operationally superior by implementing RFID technologies.

Retail:

In 2016, 4.6 billion clothing items carried RFID tags. However, this does not represent even 10% of the total apparel market, thus the potential for growth in retail and apparel is immense.

In a survey of 60 retailers with revenues of $500 million and above undertaken by Kurt Salmon, 73 percent have said that they are either deploying or are doing a pilot on RFID technologies. That number is more than double the 34 percent for the same study done in 2014.

Retail majors such as Marks & Spencer and Decathlon have had major RFID implementation in 2016. Even RFID tag providers Avery Dennison, Impinj and NXP have all reported a strong growth in tag sales. Avery Dennison has had nearly 30 percent growth in 2016 despite a slow apparel market in the US.

The other micro-segments that fall in the broad retail ambit such as cosmetics, electronics, auto ancillary, sports goods, jewellery and small home appliances are all seeing RFID tagging and tracking. The retail space, it’s entire supply chain, right to the warehouses, are all potential areas for robust RFID implementations. The ever-burgeoning retail market and retailers are seeing the benefits of RFID hence we would see a huge fillip in this space for RFID technologies in 2017. RFID is a must in the emerging Omni Channel sales which is the way forward for Retail.

IT & ITeS:

The IT services opportunity is huge world over. There are many mid-tier to small-tier IT companies in India which employ thousands of people. The laptops, desktops, dongles and mobiles assigned to people are the assets that organizations would want to tag, track and protect.

IT companies are now broadening the perimeter of operations. Important business data can be accessed by employees from home and on their mobiles with policies such as “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) becoming increasingly prevalent. These companies often work with critical data from the clients; hence their server and data centers need to be safeguarded from unauthorised access. RFID systems allow seamless entry and exit of company’s assets and restrict unauthorised access to key servers and data centers.

In a huge IT and ITeS organization, there could be over 100,000 assets. Research shows that if RFID is deployed to track these assets, the annual labour cost savings would exceed $150,000. This cost saving carries forward to subsequent years and goes on forever. Hence, RFID investments lead to significant returns and value over time.

RFID systems also enable to arrest any corrupt practices at entry and exit points and safeguard from tampering of technology assets. There is utmost transparency and accountability at all times as RFID systems can track and monitor all assets within seconds. This particularly helps IT companies that have set up huge development centers in SEZs, hence they are prone to sudden inspections and compliance checks. Companies such as Verizon already track their IT assets worldwide using RFID technology.

Healthcare:

Healthcare is among the fastest RFID adopters globally. The benefit of implementing RFID in hospitals is immense as it enables hospitals to focus on a greater cause – treating patients well and saving lives in a cost-effective manner.

Asset tracking and management in hospitals benefit immensely by use of RFID. About 20% of a hospital’s mobile assets (on average) are lost or stolen during their useful lifetime. The average cost works out to more than USD 3000 per item. Also, 75% of the time for maintenance is spent searching equipment. Hospitals typically over-stack up to 40% of spare inventory to mitigate the risk of running short of equipment during emergency. RFID can solve all these problems and ensure significant savings for hospitals without adversely impacting patient care. The savings can eventually be passed on to the patients to enable more people to afford better treatment.

Another area where RFID significantly benefits hospitals is in patient tracking and management, wherein a smart RFID device accessible by a mobile interface helps doctors and nurses to ensure perfect administration of medicines to patients at the right time. The hospitals are also able to track and manage documents and files of patients better and thus, ensuring seamless and effective treatment. Several hospitals all over the world have embraced RFID. Progressive hospitals in India such as the Apollo group of hospitals, and the Tata medical centre have been pioneers in leveraging RFID. The power of RFID in improving healthcare is such that even progressive Muncipal Corporations like the BMC are looking at introducing RFID based Asset Management in their hospitals.

Hospitality:

There is a latent demand for safe and secure hotel accommodation all over the world. The fact that start-ups like Airbnb are gaining serious momentum is testimony to this. With pilgrimage, medical tourism and leisure travel on the rise, safe, secure and reputed players in hospitality would be in great demand.

For the budget hotels to survive and compete with international counterparts and tackle disruptors in the space like Airbnb, leveraging RFID has become the need of the hour. With smart RFID based locks and energy systems, the customers are assured that their belongings are safe in hotel rooms hence enhancing the perception of safety. This leads to more people opting to stay at budget hotels that offer great service and helps the sector to flourish. The linked energy management systems also enable hotels to bring down their electricity costs. The “audit trail capture” feature of these locks helps to keep a check on any illegal use of rooms for nefarious activities and subsequent loss of both brand image and revenue. With the use of RFID readers, tracking and management of hotel’s assets can be done seamlessly and any unwarranted loss of assets can be kept in check. Hotels, after implementing RFID technologies, have seen a reduction in the inventory shrinkage from a 10% to 66% of the common shrinkage which leads to considerable savings in cost, enhances service efficiency and improves the bottom line.

Dolphin has introduced smart, RFID powered and energy efficient locks namely Aster, Sleek and Vidala that enables the budget hotels to offer the same sense of safety and security as luxury hotels at half the cost. The demand for these locks among the luxury properties is also catching up with hotel chains opting for Dolphin’s RFID powered locks and security systems. By assembling and marketing these locks and energy systems in India, Dolphin is giving a serious boost to our honourable Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” initiative.

Why Dolphin?

Dolphin RFID is one of the leading RFID service providers in the world with over 14 copyrights, 3 patents, and its own proprietary JAVA based middleware that can integrate with any core system irrespective of the sector or industry. With a network spanning 6 continents and a clientele comprising Forbes top 20 companies, Dolphin has been creating disruptive innovations, which has helped large organization and SMEs alike.

While Dolphin is on track to be a world leader in end to end RFID solutions, our larger mission is to empower all industries, especially across these five sectors, to leverage RFID and create disruptive business models for the larger good.

I hope all companies, be it large corporations or SMEs, embrace RFID in 2017 and give their businesses a better chance to succeed and prosper.

The post 5 sectors which will see impactful RFID disruption in 2017 appeared first on Dolphin RFID.

India’s largest budget hotel chain has a tie-up with nearly 7000 hotels in about 250 cities in India. They have done this in three years of coming into existence and still have a large part of the market untapped.

While there are no clear statistics available, a conservative estimate would indicate more than 100,000 rooms being reserved in budget hotels (below the 4-star category) in India every day.

The Hospitality sector landscape

The hospitality sector and the players offering services around the sector focus on 4-star and 5-star hotels dominated by the Marriott’s and Hiltons of the world. They have over-time built an accepted list of equipment that takes care of the security and service levels. However, for every 4 or 5-star room, there are more than 10 rooms in the categories that fall in the 3-star or less category.

While the demand is great for the budget hotels due to exponential increase in tourism- be it religious, medical or leisure tourism – the single major concern for the tourists is security. For a tourist or any guest, secure accommodation is of paramount importance and if that can be given, there would definitely be an increase in use of such accommodation amongst the ever expanding “indigenous” tourist.

Security – a primary concern

While the major players in the 4 and 5-star categories have security locking equipment from the leading global hotel lock manufacturers such as Vingcard, Kaba and Onity, no such standardisation exists for the budget hotels. Again, there has been no concentrated effort by any lock manufacturer to try and address this area given that the known brands become unaffordable for budget hotels due to stiff entry barriers in the form of freight, custom duties and local taxes.

So, why are these hotels not ensuring a good locking system and losing customer’s trust in the bargain?

We did some research and found that luxury hotels leverage the government’s export promotion capital goods (EPCG) scheme to buy locks and offset it against their forex transactions. However, the equation completely changes when it comes to hotels which are in the 3-star category or less. They do not get the benefit of the EPCG scheme and with the import duty and value added taxes, they often have to shell out almost double the cost of the locks in INR thus pushing it way beyond the budget for most of the hotels in the budget hotels category.  As a result, the budget hotels still depend upon the traditional lock and key systems which are inherently not secure.

Dolphin Locks – a comprehensive safety & security solution

Imagine the potential of Indian hospitality and tourism sector if this primary concern of security is addressed. Dolphin has realized this need and launched RFID hotel locks which would not only ideally suit the budget range but also offer a comprehensive solution to these budget hotels by looking at both their security and energy management requirements in one stroke. To meet the varied requirements in this sector, three models of hotel locks have been launched as follows:

• Asteria with a live LED display, not found even in the far more expensive brands. This lock is an ideal fit for higher graded hotels which have lesser budget constraints.
• Vidala with a split finish look. Ideal for all levels of budget hotels.
• Sleek with a fully waterproof body which allows the lock to be used in adverse conditions such as rain prone areas, sea front etc.

All the locks come standard with options for elevator control, access control for back-of-the-house areas and energy management switches which permit only the specific room programme card to switch on the power in the rooms. Audit trails are inbuilt in the locks for better security. The locks are suitable for both thin and thick doors.

All Dolphin Locks come with manual override option where a computerized manual key can open the room in case of any emergency or a battery dead situation. The keys can be individual for each room or a master key for the entire property. As the locks seamlessly integrate with property management systems such as Opera and IDS, it can be used by all types of hotels to address their safety and energy management.

With these locks, Dolphin is aiming to fulfil a huge latent demand in this market – a market which cannot be addressed by the big, established players such as Vingcard, Kaba,and Onity.

Dolphin locks offer much more

While safety and security of the guests is the primary concern that would be addressed through Dolphin locks, the add-on advantages as listed below make these locks a “must have” for the budget hotels as they handle key pain areas of the budget hotels.

Audit Trial: The hotel owners and administrators have often told us that they battle with managers who “sell” the hotel room for a few hours to their friends or acquaintances without recording the same in the system. An audit trial comprising information on who has entered the room, when and how many times during the day is vital for owners and the administration of such hotels. The Dolphin locks provide this audit trial and hence are a deterrent to malpractices and leakage. Audit Trails also help to solve tricky loss issues triggered by errant staff who pilfer guest belongings. It thus helps the hotel to maintain a good brand image.

No more duplicate keys: With Dolphin locks, the concept of duplicate keys is not required and hence, the occupants (tourists/ visitors) get an additional assurance about the safety of their accommodation. This leads to an increase in repeat guests and an improved bottom line.

Efficient energy management: The doors fitted with Dolphin locks can be opened using the RFID enabled card programmed for that door only. The same card (and nothing else) can be used to switch on the power in the room and with it the devices. Hence, if the card is taken out and there is no occupant in the room, power supply is cut off and loss of energy is minimized. Efficient energy management is the need of the hour in our country, especially in the Tier2 and Tier 3 cities where such hotels mostly operate.

Accountability and brand building: The hotel managers will have to issue the cards to the guests once the Dolphin locks are implemented. This would mean that the hotel rooms cannot be used for any nefarious activities without leaving an audit trial. The hotel rooms are hence much cleaner and well maintained. It will also create a good brand image for the hotel and would enable families to come and stay in the hotels thereby increasing bookings.

Pioneering RFID enabled locks for budget hotels

With security, energy efficiency, brand building and reputation management being the obvious advantages, Dolphin locks are poised to revolutionize the budget hotel segment in India. Even modest estimates would suggest that more than 80% of the tourists would prefer to use hotels which use electronic locks to secure their guests.

Why Dolphin?

With more than 22 years of experience as the sole distributors of Kaba locks in India, Dolphin is an established player in the field. Its own proprietary middleware and product expertise makes Dolphin an ideal partner for implementation of a comprehensive security and safety system for budget hotels.

Dolphin will be one of the few company in the world to serve all the hotel categories for electronic locks. Their experience and knowledge can be leveraged to enhance customer experience and ensure customer delight.

What is the future?

The RFID lock key cards can become a centralized means to access the services of the hotel. The cards can become a loyalty card wherein the incentives and freebies to the guests can be administered through the card. This card can be used at various POS enabled outlets within the hotel or for use of services such as gym, game parlours, massage parlours, swimming pools etc.

Thus, the key cards would play a vital role in enabling to track and manage assets of the hotel; it also gives information that can be used for better “linen and uniform management”, and also enable to open and close lockers for frequent visitors/ guests.

In the not so distant future, smartphones may not be required to open locks. Dolphin is aware of this emerging trend and has the capability to enable the guests to use their NFC smartphones to open the allocated door locks. NFC enabled smartphones can easily replace the use of cards as they are safe and secure and linked to a guest’s mobile phone.

If you are a hotel owner or administrator or even a guest frequenting tier-2 and tier-3 cities, I am sure you would have questions. I would be happy to address the questions that you mail to me at  suresh@dolphinrfid.com

The post Safety and Security For Hotels with RFID Technology appeared first on Dolphin RFID.