Intelleflex and The Hartford – A Partnership that Makes a Lot of Sense

The recent announcement on the partnership between Intelleflex and the Hartford to offer cold chain tracking and monitoring systems (i.e.: sensing/monitoring of food & pharmaceuticals) is the first of its kind in RFID and further demonstrates that the technology is providing real-world benefits. 

For those not familiar with these firms, Intelleflex is a venerable Battery Assisted Passive (BAP) solution provider that has pioneered the use of BAP technology in the cold chain and The Hartford is a leading insurance provider with a strong focus and long history of success with loss control services.   The Hartford not only insures companies and products, but also helps their customers manage and control risk.   

The solution the two companies are offering provides much more visibility and accuracy than most commonly used systems.  Aside from the benefits associated with RFID track/trace, this added functionality, delivered via Intelleflex and their existing partner network, will enable enterprises to:

• Further refine shelf life and product life expectancy (based on environmental conditions throughout the value chain)
• Optimize product distribution – at the pallet level - based on product condition data. 

If Intelleflex is providing the solution and is able to market it to The Hartford’s customer base, what’s in it for The Hartford?  A lot!  Not only is The Hartford able to expand upon their goals to help their customers manage and control risk, they are also expected to obtain and leverage extensive data from the field to further tailor underwriting (based on the enhanced business intelligence gathered), minimize risk and strengthen customer relationships.   After all, insurance is a data/statistics driven industry – the more accurate the data, the more predictability there is.

We’ve been saying for years that RFID is really about the data and how the business intelligence generated  can be leveraged throughout the value chain to provide operational and financial benefits.   This partnership is a classic example of this notion and I think it makes a lot of sense.