It’s been more than a month ago since I’ve been to the Core Analyst School in St. Charles, USA. As an Accenture Analyst you’ll be shipped off to St. Charles, a town near Chicago, to attend 2 weeks of training on the Accenture Delivery Methodology (ADM), the 6 Accenture Core Values, etc. In short, all the essential Accenture knowledge. Accenture Analysts from all over the world will come together in St. Charles to attend this training.

I was lucky to have great weather. Although that’s not completely true. During one of the classes it was suddenly snowing! At first we all thought that it was just the white flower pedals blown off the trees by the wind, but that didn’t quite described the scenery outside the classroom… until we figured out that it was actually SNOW in April!

Core Analyst School Blue - Section 9

It was hard work (There were also classes on Saturday morning!), but we had the rest of the weekend to go see downtown Chicago.
Another country, another experience… within the first year of joining Accenture!

The practice that is currently changing the most due to the implementation of RFID is probably Tracking & Tracing. There seems to be no limit to what can tracked. Not only the obvious retail items in stock at e.g. Wal-Mart and Tesco, like milk for instance, but in numerous industries and on many levels tracking & tracing is applied. And this is not only for the purpose of inventory management; it can save lives as well!

Not only are goods tracked through a supply chain, chemicals are tracked just as well. And the reusable pallets and containers that carry them can be traced just as easily. Many pallets and containers get lossed in the reversed supply chain after they have done their service, but no longer with the use of RFID in the process! And when you’re tracking the goods and the carriers, why not tracking your fixed assets while your at it? It saves you time when performing preventative maintenance and recording depreciation.

Gambling is made more efficient when casino chips are tracked. You don’t fool the casino with your fake chips anymore! Fine, as long as the bartender is not too stingy to poor you an extra drink. However, that seems to be history as well when RFID tracks the amount of liquor that is poored every time…

The good news is, RFID is used for the good as well. Lives can be saved when a hospital tracks it’s stock of blood. Very practical for the elderly is when RFID is used by the pharmacist to trace patients’ compliance with medication prescriptions.

And wouldn’t it be great if one could track underground mines with RFID? Although, it would probably be healthier if the mines weren’t put underground in the first place… Dangerous professions are under a safety regime all the time. Even there RFID can help by tracing safety harnesses for example. At least now you know where they’ve been and who has touched them.

All these RFID applications appearing all over the globe. Imagine what you can do even more! On the turnside, many companies are struggling with how to manage and integrate multiple geographically separate RFID systems. Good to know that at least someone is ready to tackle that issue.

Or should I say Lijden marathon? With 31 degrees Celsius and hardly any shade, this wasn’t the perfect setting for my first big run. I made it to the finish though, but discovered I still have a long way to go before I can run NYC this year.

This being my first time at such an event, I was surprised with this whole new world opening up. Runners are a special kind of people. You usually just see them running by themselves but when they come together, a whole new community is born. A close-knit community that is, with their own habits, their own specialty shops and their own brands. Because only in this community you see where Asics and Saucony get their big sales. These are just two examples of brands that are truly embedded in this runners’ world. Apparently, the hardcore runners are not that easily touched by the superpowers of Nike and Adidas.

How did they do this? How did these brands become so strong in this community? A case of strong niche marketing? Please post you’re reactions when you know, as I am really curious.

Thanks

Het aantal reacties is weliswaar niet overweldigend, maar de statistieken tonen het al vanaf de start van de weblog aan; dat wat ik toevertrouw aan het web, wordt gelezen. Onlangs mocht ik deelnemen aan een debat voor de energiesector, geleid door Peter van Ingen en wat bleek; hij had ter voorbereiding ondermeer mijn weblog geraadpleegd. We zijn nog steeds één van de weinige Nederlandse organisaties met een weblog. Zoals vaker het geval lopen we voorop. We zoeken nieuwe mogelijkheden, durven te vernieuwen en gaan uitdagingen niet uit de weg. Dat is ook een van de redenen waarom we aan tafel zijn gevraagd tijdens het Energiedebat. Het debat werd georganiseerd door EnergieNed. Tafelgenoten waren ondermeer Bernhard Wientjes voorzitter van VNO-NCW, Richard de Lange van EnergieNed en minister Brinkhorst. Ik heb een lans gebroken voor het behoud van een stuk Nederlandse identiteit in de sector. Als organisatie die deel uitmaakt van de Nederlandse economie vinden we het belangrijk dat van oudsher typisch Nederlandse bedrijven niet volledig in buitenlandse handen komen. Dus geen uitverkoop van energiebedrijven. Het was goed om met de aanwezigen van gedachten te wisselen over de toekomst van de energiesector.

Ook de KunstRai, waarvan we dit jaar hoofdsponsor waren, was een prima gelegenheid om oude en nieuwe relaties te spreken. We hadden veel klanten uitgenodigd. Er waren rondleidingen en Wim van Krimpen, voormalig directeur van de Kunsthal Rotterdam, verzorgde de inleiding. De zondagmiddag was gereserveerd voor Accenture-medewerkers en hun partners. Ook zij kregen rondleidingen en mochten hun stem uitbrengen op een door ons aan te schaffen kunstwerk. Het is een werk geworden van Hella Jetzig. Het meet zo’n 1.00 x 2.00 meter en is binnenkort te bewonderen aan de wand achter de bank in de hal van ons pand aan de Apollolaan.

The Dutch Minister of Transportation, Carla Peijs, has decided today to give a “Go” for the world’s first national rollout of an eTicketing system for public transportation.

The “OV-Chipcard” is an RFID based plastic card that can be used for all modes of transport in The Netherlands as of 2008. The system allows passengers to use one single card to pay for their rides. The paper based “strippenkaart” will be abolished by 2009, according to the Ministry.

The decision of the Minister shows the confidence from the Dutch government in the added value that the RFID solution brings to the customers of public transport in The Netherlands. A milestone for the adoptation of RFID into everyday life.