The Computing Technology Industry Association on Tuesday reported survey results that reveal that 80% of IT manufacturers and service companies see a shortage of RFID talent to implement, service, and support radio-frequency identification technology. The Web survey, conducted during the first two weeks in February, received responses from 51 trade-association members.

Two-thirds of survey respondents say training and educating employees in RFID technology is one of the biggest challenges they face. The survey also reveals that RFID adoption remains "relatively modest," with about 71% (after rounding) saying their customers haven't implemented RFID. Similarly, 80% say they haven't gone past investigating the technology, and just 16% have implemented one or more pilot projects for themselves or their customers.

Even though respondents say there's a shortage of talent in RFID technology, 37% of respondents say their companies will definitely offer RFID products and services within the next three years, and 39% say they'd consider doing so if there's interest from their customers. In other findings, 82% of the surveyed companies expect to offer RFID hardware installation and maintenance services, 62% to offer software implementations, and 51% other services.

Respondents to the CompTIA survey included value-added resellers and system providers (33%), consultants and systems integrators (22%), and manufacturers (20%). Two-thirds of the companies have annual revenue of up to $25 million, while 22% have annual revenue of $100 million or more.