Monthly Archives: October 2016

5 Useful Tips For Choosing (Rental) Barcode Equipment For A Business Seminar

Among the many items that you will require to organize a successful business seminar, barcode equipment is a must-have. In the modern world, barcode technologies play a vityal role in many industries including the event management, market research, and security industries. For your business seminar, barcode equipment and software will mostly play a data collection and event organization role. Apparently, you will want to track guest attendance, which entails data collection, and then use the data for marketing activities. Barcode readers, scanners and printers will enable you to achieve all these activities. You can also use specialized barcode programs to enrich your research and enhance your marketing strategies. Having ascertained that you need barcode equipment for you seminar, you must now consider the following tips in order to acquire the most appropriate products.

 

 

Urgency VS. Delivery Time

 

The process of sourcing for barcode equipment involves conducting some basic research regarding the sales packages being offered by various manufacturers and vendors. After deciding between buying and renting, you have to consider the delivery conditions of various vendors in order to avoid inconveniences. If you need the barcode equipment in a rush, choose a reputable vendor who guarantees the minimum delivery time.

 

Price (Buy or rent)

 

The first step towards the acquisition of any functional business product involves a serious consideration of its cost. Barcode vendors sell or rent/lease their equipment — rental prices are relatively low as compared to outright buying. If this is a one-time thing; the rental option is the obvious choice because it is cheaper. If it is a full time profession, you should consider buying the equipment to avoid unnecessary inconveniences.

 

Features And Functionality

 

Before investing in any barcode equipment, you must consider the functional and physical qualities of the items. Actually, before settling on the price, you must consider the cost-quality dynamic. Although many barcode equipment manufacturers and vendors are household names, whose brands are quite reputable, you must consider the specific features of various models. For instance, if you decide to get barcode rental equipment, you should check the operating systems on the barcode readers/scanners, determine whether they support WiFi, WAN, and Bluetooth, and confirm whether they can scan 1D or 2D barcodes.

 

You should also choose sturdy barcode equipment that is easy to carry and use. Check and choose lengthy warranty periods to ensure that you get high quality equipment, which is durable.

 

Setup And Accessories

 

Again, this depends on the sales package offered a particular vendor or manufacture. Inquire or research on the components or accessories included in a specific barcode item. Choose the most comprehensive package, preferably a complete setup that includes extra batteries,chargers, download cables, docks, and complete user manuals. If it is required, check the package for hand-held and communications software.

 

Attendance Tracking Software

 

Finally, you should decide whether to get attendance tracking software for your event management and market research data needs. It is advisable to acquire provisional programming solutions and services from the same vendor you got the barcode equipment from to ensure conformity and compatibility.  Most renowned vendors are capable of providing standard software or creating special/custom programs to suit specific client needs and preferences.

 

Renting Barcode Equipment For Inventory Tracking: A Case For Retailers

For retailers, inventory inspection and tracking is one of the most important business management activities.  Considered a routine business practice, inventory tracking is an integral exercise that enables the management team to monitor stock movement and gauge business performance.  Unfortunately, inventory tracking is a tedious and resource-intensive exercise, which is usually postponed or rarely conducted by business owners.  In other cases, the exercise is conducted shoddily and unprofessionally resulting in indefinite conclusions regarding stock movement.  Dillydallying and ineffectual inventory practices enable unscrupulous employees and managers to mismanage and steal a firm’s inventory — resulting in massive losses.

 

Luckily, barcode technologies have come to the rescue of retail trade.  Using barcode equipment and programs, retailers can now easily track their inventory anytime they wish; without deploying massive resources to the exercise.  And to make matters even better, retailers do not have to spend their limited capital in buying expensive and sophisticated barcode equipment and software for their inventory needs.  They can now rent/lease all the barcode equipment they need from select vendors at relatively low costs.  To woo all the retailers that still doubt the beauty of this arrangement, barcode vendors and manufacturers have created three invaluable inventory tracking solutions.  Offered at very affordable rates, these inventory options are ideal for all types of retail businesses.

 

Basic Periodic Inventory

 

This is the simplest, easiest and most affordable inventory tracking option.  Falling under the periodic category, this solution is used for periodic/occasional inventory updates, such as annual inventory audits.  Under this specific arrangement, retailers can collect a simple inventory that involves barcode scanning and quantity tracking.  For this option, a retailer needs to rent a basic/simple inventory kit.  Alternatively, the retailer can opt to go deeper and collect additional fields of data.  The additional data requires the retailer to go for more intensive but relatively affordable barcode inventory rentals.  The second option requires a specialized data collection and inventory program.

 

Comprehensive Periodic Inventory

 

This is another periodic inventory option, which means that it results in occasional inventory updates too.  This inventory solution digs up detailed information regarding a particular stock item, such as its description, color, price, and size among other attributes.  This option requires a barcode reader that is preloaded with a database featuring the product’s barcode number and its additional attribute data.  Many vendors will be happy to rent the required barcode equipment to willing retailers at a reasonable fee.

 

Perpetual Inventory

 

A conscientious retailer can decide to conduct an ongoing or perpetual inventory inspection and tracking exercise to enhance business efficiency.  Considered the most intensive and effective option, this is the most recommendable inventory solution for any retailer.  This option needs you to rent specialized barcode equipment and then request standard or custom software to analyze the stock information.  Despite ongoing sales and purchases, you can still be able to update stock movement in real-time.  The offered system enables you to track various product attributes, such as item code, description and quantity settings.  Finally, if you wish to verify the system data, you can conduct a stock audit at any time and compare the findings.

 

3 Main Factors To Consider Before Acquiring Barcode Equipment

Barcode technology has had a positive impact on the business world.  By simplifying and speeding up data collection and enhancing the accuracy of the process, barcode technology has revolutionized market research.  However, in order to enhance business performance and optimize productivity using barcode equipment and programs, you must choose the most befitting products for your organization.  This is not a simple decision because it requires a comparative assessment of the functional attributes of the offered barcode products in relation to your specific business needs.  It’s even more complicated because you need an in-depth technical understanding of the workings of the proffered barcode equipment and software.  Luckily, barcode vendors have come up with an assistive solution to this problem.  Having worked with numerous customers over the years, established vendors have realized that business users need assistance in making this decision.  Therefore, they maintain a team of expert technicians for consultation purposes.  They will most likely ask about the following three issues.

 

Data Needs

 

If you are shopping for barcode equipment and software, you will be offered two acquisition options; rent/lease and full purchase.  Regardless of your purchase option, you must start by defining your data needs to the expert consultation team.  You will also be required to describe the type of data you want to collect and to state your intentions after collection.  Finally, you will be asked about label printing — do you have old labels or are you planning to print your own.  All these queries are meant to shed light on your data needs, preferences, and functional expectations.  For instance, if you decide to get barcode rentals, the answer to the label printing question will inform the team whether you need a standalone barcode reader or a combo barcode reader and printer.

 

Hardware Needs

 

The consultation team will explore your hardware needs next.  To ensure that you acquire the most suitable barcode equipment, the team will ask about the planned usage.  They will inquire on where the equipment will be used, outdoors or indoors, and for what, business events, industrial use, tradeshows, warehousing, seminars, or retailing.  This will help them to determine how rugged you need the equipment to be.

 

To assess your desired functional capabilities, such as stationary, mobile, or wireless units, you will be asked to explain your preferred data capture methodology.  Also, you need to state the scanning distance and the density of the barcodes.

 

Software Needs

 

After ascertaining your data and hardware needs, the last step is about your software needs and preferences.  The first and most crucial question is about the type of software that you will require.  Unless you are satisfied with the prepackaged, standard software, you will request for a custom program solution.  This is a very important question and you are advised to ask the expert team for advice if you are not sure.  Once again if you require additional software for terminal emulation and the barcode reader, tell the experts.  Finally, you will need to define your host system access configuration — that is the system’s interactive extent with the barcode scanners.

 

All this information will assist the expert team to pick the most appropriate barcode equipment and software for your data collection endeavor.

Barcode Equipment: Should You Rent Or Buy?

Spurred by rapid technological evolution, barcode technology has become more versatile and functional; enhancing its appeal in the business world.  Barcode equipment and software has simplified data collection in many industries — saving many businesses massive sums of money and lots of time.  Adopted quickly and widely by huge companies and organizations after its introduction, barcode technology failed to break significant ground in the small and medium business worlds.  For a longtime, barcode manufacturers and vendors struggled to unravel the cause of this enigmatic marginal reluctance by certain business types.  After ruling out conservative business practices, they had an “epiphany.”  It was just a minor money problem.  Many SMEs were reluctant to spend money on barcode equipment purchases.  After figuring out the problem, the vendors came up with an ingenious solution — barcode equipment rentals.  Formerly considered as non-essential, sophisticated technological products, barcode equipment has gained popularity among SME business owners due to the rental option.  Although the rental option is celebrated by some, others argue for the full purchase alternative — checkout the debate.

 

Cost

 

As mentioned above, it has always been about money.  Like any other product, the cost of barcode equipment casts a huge shadow on its customer appeal.  Expectedly, the most alluring pro for rental barcode products is their low deployment costs.  However, some industry analysts argue that those who prefer this option end up paying more with every subsequent barcode renting cost.  Business owners who prefer renting counteract this argument by claiming that they require the equipment rarely; making the total renting costs relatively insignificant.  Factually speaking, renting is cheaper than buying if you  don’t require it for daily processes.

 

Convenience

 

Arguably, full ownership of the barcode equipment guarantees convenience to the buyer.  This is the most compelling reason for buying barcode equipment and software.  Although barcode vendors promise timely delivery of rentals, it is not implausible to imagine that once in a while there could be a delay with shipping, through no fault of the rental company.   Rental companies do advise their clients to book early to ensure adequate transaction and shipping time for the rentals.  Obviously, compared to renting — buying ensures convenience, as the equipment is always at the fingertips of whom ever needs it.

 

Technological Evolution

 

Renting barcode equipment shields customers from technological lags, which culminate in expensive product upgrades.  Those supporting renting present a credible argument based on the popular premise that today’s “new” is tomorrow’s “old.”  Considered as a negative side effect of rapid technological evolution, it’s true that there is always a new, better product awaiting release.  For barcode rental customers, renting ensures that you always get the latest release instead of getting stuck with an outdated model bought years ago.  For instance, renters claim that if they need barcode reader rentals, they always ask for the latest model, which is more functional and efficient.  However, working with a reputable barcode software company should offer options for keeping your equipment and software up to date and functioning beneficially.

 

Maintenance

 

Customers who prefer rental barcode equipment do not bear any maintenance costs or suffer any product breakdown inconveniences.  After buying barcode equipment, the owner bears liability for its maintenance and repair.  Although buyers claim that renters incur high charges if they break or lose any rented equipment, renters claim that their new models are sturdier and that anyone can lose stuff.  Again, renting wins!

 

Considering all the insightful arguments presented regarding these two “ownership” options, it is true that both choices have several merits and demerits.  Ultimately, it comes down to what type of business, the specific needs, and frequency needed as to whether renting or buying is better.

 

 

 

 

The 3 Barcode Solutions For Event Management And Attendance Tracking

If you are tasked with the tedious and resource- Successful corporate, formal, or business events require extensive planning and management activities.  From crowd management and coordination to attendance tracking and lead retrieval activities, these events need specialized equipment and expert controls to ensure success.  Luckily, some modern technological innovations have simplified this seemingly herculean task.  Evolution in barcode technologies has led to the development of affordable, easy-to-use, and highly functional barcode equipment — suitable for event management and attendance tracking.  Nowadays, barcode readers, scanners and printers are used to control and monitor event admissions in various formal events like business conventions, corporate seminars, and tradeshows and exhibitions.  The rapid proliferation of barcode technologies has in turn led to the creation of numerous event management services and practices — all designed to optimize industry operations.  Surprisingly, all barcode-backed services can be classified into the following three categories.

 

Third-Party Service Companies

 

intensive responsibility of organizing an event, there are companies out there that are ready to do it for you at a fee.  They use the latest and most functional barcode equipment and software to monitor and track attendance and even to retrieve leads.  Frankly speaking, event planning and management companies were not brought about by barcode technologies — they existed long before the discovery of these technologies.  However, these service providers have reaped massive benefits from the increased efficiency and the simplified nature of their work.  Reputable third-party event organizers do cut into the bottom line a bit, but are highly efficient.  It’s a matter of convenience versus cost, the choice is yours.

 

Barcode Equipment Purchase

 

The other category includes all businesses and organizations that organize and manage their events with their own barcode equipment.  Some firms maintain fully fledged PR-based event organization departments.  These departments are tasked with the planning and management of both in-house and public events in the company.  These organizations opt to buy their own barcode equipment and software — they maintain their own event databases for their marketing endeavors.  Their event planning departments are usually equipped with all the necessary barcode equipment including barcode readers/scanners, printers and attendance tracking programs.  If, for instance, the company is hosting a trade show or a business convention, each member of the department will be issued with a tradeshow scanner and printer to control venue access and to collect attendance data.

 

Barcode Equipment Rentals

 

The last category/option is also the most recommendable event management strategy.  Any individual, business or organization can be tasked with the responsibility of hosting a successful business event or trade seminar at a moments notice.  Ordinarily, many people or organizations do not own or maintain event planning departments with all the latest barcode equipment or event management programs.  However, barcode equipment vendors stock a huge variety of barcode equipment and software and some of them offer rental or lease options.  Therefore, anyone can organize a team of event planners and then book the necessary barcode equipment including tracking and monitoring programs from reliable dealers.  The cost of renting barcode equipment is relatively low and most vendors offer reasonable lead times.  As such, you can conveniently and cost-effectively manage your own event without necessarily spending a significant portion of your capital on barcode equipment.  This option is so lucrative that even some professional event management companies rent barcode equipment anytime they land a client.