Who doesn’t know what the famous barcodes are? Present in our daily life for years now, this set of black and white stripes which causes a beep whenever we but a product, is far from disappearing.
The barcodes are implemented worldwide and is used for packaging, in customs offices, and practically anywhere in the industry. It’s a unique numeric identification represented by a combination of lines which allows recognizing an article quickly in a unique, global and unambiguously way in any point of the logistical chain. That way, its features can be consulted or inventory can be made.
According to the Dinero magazine, there are 5 advantages that barcodes still offer businessmen today, even after 60 years of existence:
- When products are stamped with barcodes, they acquire a unique global identification which becomes a key of admission to the globalized world.
- They reduce logistical expenses per unit in approximately US$0.5 (boxes, packages, bags, etc).
- They increase nearly 32% the speed of sales of perishable products (meats, fruits, groceries, cheese, etc), thanks to a better follow-up of their expiry date.
- They provide information about the customer’s behavior, which orientates further decisions on demand management.
- They make communication between different business partners (clients and suppliers) easier, because their products have a unique identification which lets them speak “the same language”.
Mobile access to barcodes, vital for companies
There’s no doubt that increasingly in the industry, mobile access to products identification systems helps companies and entities to become smarter through a better capture which improves the data management.
Therefore it’s no surprise that among the 7 key technologic tendencies in the business environment pointed out by Merca 2.0 for 2017 is stated that “Companies will demand even more visibility of their assets, people and transactions. To get there, they will use even more barcodes and RFID tags on objects, allowing its interaction with employees”. Apart from that, according to the website, “The new devices will have more functions than before. Companies look for “all in one” devices to use at work, and so consumer appliances will be squeezed out of the market by business devices which can perform more tasks faster”.
The possibility of scanning barcodes from your smartphone provides companies the SKUs –the identification of products and services offered to its clients, making processes such as inventory easier. This way, you can read the barcodes from your smartphone to enter the amount of products or to indicate what product was used in a particular task, since the barcodes are associated to the name of a product in a data base. NTR website indicates in that regard that these devices provide more dynamism for storage activities at a warehouse, to increase productivity or making sure that patients at a hospital receive the right medication at the right time.
In conclusion, the use of smartphones to scan barcodes of products helps companies to diminish mistakes, increase visibility of assets and reduce losses at the entire supply chain.
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