Kevin R. Fitzgerald

Far too many companies still make major mistakes when purchasing supply chain IT systems.

You might think it's the glitzy new technologies that cause kinks in the supply chain, but more often than not, it's the older, established technologies that turn out to be the weak link.

Privacy groups believe that RFID technology will enable corporate giants like Wal-Mart to peer into their private lives without their consent.

Some predict that with Wal-Mart's backing, the RFID tag will someday replace the bar code. But RFID's backers still have some major hurdles to clear.

Companies gain a strategic competitive edge in supply chain execution not because they possessed technology that none of their competitors had, but because they had figured out how to use that technology better than anybody else.

Where most people go wrong with new technology is by focusing far too much on the technology itself and far too little on the inherent difficulties of implementing it into an existing business.

Some companies have installed supply chain software and succeeded magnificently; others fail miserably. What makes one company succeed and another fail?

Can you safely put it on hold or is it one of those technologies you ignore at your peril?

To deal with this crisis, the three technology companies CGE recently launched an initiative called "Extended Retail Solutions."