Near Field Communications - NFC - Business Applications
Turn on your smartphone and toss away your wallet
According to Joe Marcallini at SteadyRain, “The invention of Near Field Communications (NFC) in the mobile commerce arena is going to explode. NFC allows you to wave your phone over a compatible device at your retailer to purchase goods or services. This ability to purchase products with your smartphone is a convenient technology that may one day ‘”eliminate’” the need for a wallet.”
What Wikipedia Has To Say About NFC
Wikipedia notes that applications include mobile ticketing, mobile payment (where the device acts as a debit/credit card), and a smart poster in which a mobile phone is used to read RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags on outdoor billboards.
Future applications could include:
- Electronic ticketing
- Electronic money
- Mobile commerce
Mobile Commerce
The website Near Field Communications is a good place to keep current with NFC developments. For example, “French start-up Think&Go NFC has introduced NFC Commerce, a new retail solution that includes a wide range of applications that retailers can use to enable shoppers to interact in their stores via NFC.”
Potential Applications
Sarah Clark notes in her blog post Think&Go introduces NFC shopping engine that potential applications “include easy access to product information, special dietary needs and context-aware needs, in-store navigation, personalized marketing, cross-selling, up-selling, consumer behaviour tracking, loyalty cards, coupon capture, advertising channels and more.”
Implication For Business Owners/CEOs
NFC and QR Codes are rapidly introducing new technologies into the business marketplace. The irony is that business complexity is being increased in proportion to user (customer) simplicity. This demands business owner attention. Do you have a strategy in place?
HOW IS TECHNOLOGY CHANGING YOUR BUSINESS? Please share your experience in the comment box, below.
Explore:
The role of QR codes for business owners: what they are and how to use them.
How to reduce complexity in the marketplace
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Mission: To help small and mid-size businesses sell more.