Monthly Archives: January 2017

A barcode reader can serve many functions. Most people associate barcode readers with the grocery store checkout counter. The handheld devices or flat surfaces the cashier uses to read the barcodes of your items are examples of barcode readers. In fact, understanding what a barcode reader is made easier by continuing the grocery store checkout counter example. A barcode reader is made up of several parts: a scanner, a decoder and a connection to a computer (often via a cable). The barcode must be scanned—think of the thin red lights at a checkout counter. Then, the barcode is decoded, usually by an internal mechanism in the barcode reader itself. Once the barcode is decoded, the information is transmitted to a computer—think of the screen onto which your grocery items and their prices appear—where the data can be stored, transferred and otherwise used. The computer the barcode reader is attached to must use certain software applications designed to work with barcodes. Usually, companies that sell barcode readers or offer barcode reader rentals also provide the necessary software as part of packages they sell to customers. While the grocery store checkout counter is perhaps the most ubiquitous example of a barcode reader in our culture, there are a variety of different types of barcode readers that serve different purposes. Here is a look at the major types of barcode readers and the functions they serve.

 

Pen Wands

 

Pen wands are often considered the most basic form of a barcode reader. As with the basic version of most devices, one of its advantages is a relatively low cost. Pen wands are also considered to be highly durable barcode readers. The difficulty with pen wands is that the scanner on a pen wand must be aligned into direct contact with the barcode it is attempting to read. If it is not held at just the right angle and passed over the barcode at just the right speed, it will be difficult to read the barcode. These definitely require some skill and dexterity to operate.

 

Slot Scanners

 

Slot scanners are barcode readers that remain stationary while the barcode is moved over the scanner. The barcodes on identification cards are often scanned by slot scanners. They may be usefully implemented by work places that require individuals to clock in using an identification tag.

 

CCD Scanners

 

CCD scanners are similar to pen wands but are considered to be higher quality. These are the scanners that are frequently used at grocery stores and in retail stores. CCD scanners have the look of a Star Wars-style blaster gun. Their range is much greater than that of a pen wand. Often, these types of scanners have difficulty reading bar codes that are wider than the glass front of the device. This means they are a good option for grocery stores, but not so effective for keeping track of potentially large inventory items.

 

Image Scanners

 

barcode-reader-rentals

 

Image scanners, as their name indicates, use built-in cameras to take a picture of the barcode it is attempting to read. These barcode pictures are what are actually decoded by image scanners; this is considered a relatively sophisticated way of reading a barcode. Their range is limited, however, to reading barcodes that are less than a foot away from their scanners

 

Laser Scanners

 

Laser scanners have a greater range than image scanners, as they are able to read barcodes that are up to two feet away. In certain cases, laser scanners that are designed to read barcodes from a long distance can read them up to 30 feet away. This would obviously be beneficial for certain warehouse inventory applications. Laser scanners also derive their effectiveness from taking hundreds of scans per second in order to get the perfect read. They can be more expensive, however, than image scanners. With barcode readers, as with most things in life, you get what you pay for.

 

Trade shows are an important part of successfully growing a business, particularly at the early stages. They can be an opportunity to interact with people who have a particular interest, either personally or professionally, in some aspect of your industry. Because you can be sure the people who attend a trade show have this prerequisite interest in your market or your niche within a larger market, the people you meet there should be automatically highly valued as potential customers. Whereas so much of traditional marketing involves finding these interested customers, a trade show does this work for you. Trade shows are also interesting marketing opportunities because of the emphasis they place on face-to-face interaction. Increasingly, more and more of a company’s marketing is done online. Many retail businesses conduct the entirety of their commerce online. As a result, many believe a traditional business skills like in-person networking, public speaking and body language have become less important. At a trade show, this is not the case. A trade show is an opportunity to interact face-to-face with prospective customers and industry professionals. While these old school skills are needed, there is new technology available to supplement these skills; recent innovations have automated some aspects of trade shows. Most of the tech involved in trade shows has to do with keeping track of all the people you meet. Because trade shows are so popular and the attendees so focused on getting business done, it can be difficult to keep track of everything. This is a good problem to have, and automation may be the solution.

 

Badge Scanners

 

The tradeshow badge scanner is an important recent development in trade show technology. Many people choose to purchase these scanners, while others rent them on an as-needed basis for single use at a particular trade show. Attendees at trade shows are often equipped with barcoded badges; the barcodes in these badges are associated with information about the trade show attendee, such as certain contact information or information about the company they work for. As you can imagine, remembering all of this information—especially for hundreds of people—is impossible for even the best memories among us. That’s where a badge scanner that can quickly scan these barcoded badges comes in handy. If attendees don’t have badges, these scanners may still be useful for trade shows and for business professionals in general. Many people are now embedding barcodes onto their business cards. If you’re interested in purchasing or renting a barcode scanner, make sure it will work with business cards as well.

 

Lead Retrieval

 

tradeshow-scanners

 

The purpose of a badge scanner is to collect the information of a prospective customer or an attendee at a trade show and store their information so that it may be used later for business purposes. The act of going back and getting this information is referred to as lead retrieval and it is a process that has been made easier by automation. Older versions of barcode scanners and lead retrieval technology often took days or weeks to actually display the leads that were captured at a trade show. Now, an efficient lead retrieval system will instantly display the leads you have gathered. This makes it possible to follow up with the leads and grow your business more efficiently.

 

Automated Syncing

 

Another efficiency in trade show technology involves syncing these leads with your customer relationship management software. As mentioned above, following up with leads quickly is a priority; however, it is also a priority to follow up with leads in an organized fashion. Many people communicate with their customers in ways that are proven to be effective using customer relationship management (CRM) software. Often, these are cloud-based systems like Salesforce. For businesses utilizing these platforms, efficient use of trade show data needs to be quickly incorporated into the platform. Many trade show scanners can automatically collect, store and sync the lead data from trade shows. What used to take pen and paper, personalized follow-up calls and emails and considerable brain power can now be done automatically.