Inventory tracking and asset tracking have become an inseparable part of modern businesses. Whether large scale or small scale, every company uses tracking softwares to detect the location and usage status of their assets and inventory items. In order to track your inventory successfully, you need to have specific tools and equipment, including asset tags, barcode printers, Barcode Labelling Software, barcode scanners, QR code scanners, and other tracking equipment. This equipment makes inventory and asset tracking more exact and enhances its accuracy. This equipment comes in various types and specifications. You need to check your tracking requirements and choose the best-suited tracking equipment for your business. Among all other tracking equipment, barcode scanners and QR code scanners are some of the more critical and must-have devices for every business.

What is a barcode?
Whether it is a grocery store or a branded clothing showroom, barcodes are used everywhere. Barcodes are the codes that contain information about a product. Different letters and numbers are encoded in the form of bars of varying lengths and widths. They are used to give a unique identity to each product.

What are barcode scanners?
For reading the barcodes, you need an electronic device that could read the barcodes and convert the bars into alphanumeric digits and then send the information to the computer. These devices are known as barcode scanners. A barcode scanner is an input device that uses a light beam to scan the barcode labels, and it possesses a light sensor that translates optical impulses into electrical signals. It also contains a decoder that decodes the barcode into readable form. Barcode scanning devices can be of different types, such as wired barcode readers, wireless barcode scanners, and other scanners. We can also categorise it based on the kinds of barcode it reads, such as 1D code readers, 2D code readers, etc. You can choose any as per your tracking requirements.

Features of barcode scanners
Here are some excellent features of a barcode scanner that makes it an essential piece of tracking equipment for your business:
1. Portable devices
Barcode readers are very light in weight and handy equipment that can easily be moved from one place to another. They are not fitted at a single location and can easily be moved from one location to another, and you can handle them alone without much workforce.
2. Low cost
Buying high-cost tracking devices can increase your business operation costs. Barcode scanning devices are low-cost devices, and you can buy them in bulk if you have a large warehouse and inventory items to track without worrying about high business expenses.
3. Eliminate errors
If you try to track your inventory manually, it might become a time-consuming and hectic task, and errors may occur. With the help of these scanners, you can get accurate data about the location and usage of your inventory, and the chances of mistakes are significantly less.
4. Increase your business efficiency
These scanners improve the efficiency of your business by accelerating your workflow, and they reduce the time you need to invest in inventory management. This will ultimately leave you with more time to focus on other areas of your business and strengthen them.
5. Reduce your business staffing requirements
Manual inventory management requires more workforce, which can mean that your business has to spend more time and money on the recruitment and training of your employees. With asset tracking equipment, you won’t need to hire specialised staff to manage your inventory and can get your existing staff up to speed quickly and easily.

What is a QR code?
A QR code is a machine scannable image and contains details of a product, and it consists of black squares and dots that represent certain information.
What is a QR code Scanner?
For scanning the QR codes, you need a QR code scanner. The QR code scanner, also known as QR code reader, is a device that scans the QR codes and converts them into an easily understandable form. With its help, you can get to know the location of your assets anytime, anywhere. These days, Android and IOS devices have built-in QR code scanners, and you can simply scan any payment code or other codes from your smartphone's camera. But for business use, you need to have a QR code scanner machine as it will be more effective and help you scan the QR codes more efficiently and fastly.

Hybrid Scanners - The new age scanning technology

Most businesses these days face issues about whether they should use barcode scanners or QR code scanners for asset tracking and inventory management. Their operational costs increase if they use barcodes and QR code scanners separately. To solve this issue, hybrid scanners are available in the market. These scanners can scan both barcodes as well as QR codes. These scanners collect anatomical and physiological information by scanning barcodes and QR codes and then merging them to give a detailed description of your assets and inventory items. They are also known as multimodal imaging (MMI) scanners. Hybrid scanners are very cost-effective and help reduce your business's operational costs. They offer your business dual benefits of both barcodes and QR codes. Due to the tremendous benefits provided by hybrid scanners, they are being used by most of the businesses to fulfill their tracking requirements

Summing Up

This was about the barcode and QR code scanners and their utility in the inventory management function of your business. There are many new types of barcode readers available in the market from which wireless barcode scanners are widely used. You can also use QR code scanners to provide detailed information about the product. Using the right asset tracking equipment will help you keep your assets and inventory items safe and give you detailed information about their location and usage status.

What we provide
TechnoSource Australia is a leading cloud-based asset tracking solution provider. We design tracking tools and equipment that will help your business predict the location of their business assets and inventory items in your warehouse. We also provide different types of barcode readers and QR code readers of the best quality and specifications. Our experts understand the importance of inventory management for the success of your business. Therefore we design user-friendly tracking devices which minimize data entry and tracking errors and fasten your inventory tracking processes and increase your business efficiency to a higher level. We are here to take care of all your business requirements.