Adoption of carton-level tagging using temperature-sensing RFID for pharmaceuticals could be nearing an inflection point, as was seen recently with item-level tagging in apparel. But tracking temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals is very different from tracking apparel.

A functioning demand-planning process is a key enabler for supply chain organizations, and getting the process right is fundamental to improving demand-planning effectiveness, according to Gartner analysts.

Smartphone owners in China don't want to carry around a personal and a corporate phone. Instead, they're accessing work data from new-fangled phones under emerging corporate policies known as BYOD, or bring-your-own-device.

Following tests that showed mobile POS successfully sped up the checkout process in its Rack stores, Nordstrom will roll out approximately 1,500 of the devices to its 110 Rack units by the end of Q3. This deployment is in addition to the mobile POS technology already in use in Nordstrom's 117 full-line stores.

The savings that can be retrieved by automating and rationalizing approval and purchasing processes in small and mid-sized companies are palpable. A 2009 Aberdeen Group study estimated that "improving the percentage of all non-payroll, tax, tariff and fee-related spend" - that is, indirect, nonstrategic expenses - brought under the management of a dedicated group can help enterprises "achieve a 5% to 20% cost savings for each dollar brought under spend management".

Cybra, a barcode and RFID software provider, has announced the results of a survey illustrating that the use of radio frequency identification has increased significantly during the past four years. Specifically, the number of responding companies that indicated they were using the technology rose by 157 percent since a similar survey carried out in 2008. The study was conducted with 153 businesses, about half of which were Cybra customers.

Dealing with lower/reduced budgets was the top IT priority over the next 12 months of 25 percent Asia/Pacific companies responding to IDC's "Continuum" End-User Survey 2012. That's followed by 18 stating aligning IT to changing business landscape was their top priority, and 12 percent saying their chief concern was building better tools that help management make better business decisions.