Mobile Device Loss Prevention

Most collaboration solutions for Retail involve the use of mobile devices so that the Store Manager is able to interact with customers rather be bound behind his desk. However a lot of Retail organizations are concerned about the theft of these mobile devices from the Store.

RFID is one of the options for loss prevention. Schon Crouse (in a ComputerWorld article), mobility integration analyst at Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, said in an interview that laptops with embedded passive RFID chips are being purchased from Dell Inc. and slowly deployed to more than 1,000 hospital workers. One of the first applications, for tracking and preventing theft of the laptops using the tags, involves exterior doorways in the hospital complex that lock when a laptop is brought nearby. The concept is under development and has not yet been proven, he said.

Another low-tech option is StufBak. StuffBak is a service that makes it easy for consumers and businesses to confidentially link important mobile assets to an international 24/7/365 recovery network. When a StuffBak-labeled item is found, the registered owner is immediately contacted by phone and email. StuffBak facilitates a speedy recovery and always thanks the finder.