A recent survey suggests that while 60% of end users find radio frequency identification (RFID) appealing for item-level tracking, there are significant obstacles to its use.

Respondents identified high tag price and lack of funding as the two greatest obstacles today to RFID's adoption at their companies. Other significant barriers include lack of standards and integrators for RFID systems.

The results are based on 249 respondents at companies with more than $100 million in revenue. The survey was done by RFID Journal and Allied Business Intelligence.

Despite the barriers to adoption of RFID, more than half of the respondents said they expect to use the technology at some point in the future. "The primary motive for the technology lies in efficiency gains and cost reductions driven by the superior visibility RFID offers an enterprise's supply chain," says Edward Rerisi, director of research at Allied Business.