Barcode or QR Code Asset Tracking: What Is It & How Does It Work?
Updated: Jan 22
Asset management is an essential component of any organisation. In today's increasingly technological age, there is a huge demand for secure storage and distribution solutions.
Manual asset management has various drawbacks, including lower return on investment, inability to detect potential savings, data breaches, and inability to identify underused assets.
However, when it comes to organisational asset management, firms must consider two key questions —
What technology should be utilised to enable simple automation?
How can we create an effective asset management strategy?
Since the first consumer barcode was scanned in 1974, the use of barcodes for asset tracking operations has been transformative in assisting organisations to increase data accuracy and faster inventory management.
For an asset-intensive organisation, asset monitoring operations require the use of software tools and tagging technologies such as barcodes and QR codes. Especially if they rely on the precision of their stock control and inventory management. The use of barcodes and QR codes for asset tracking has been widely adopted by enterprises of all sizes, with an emphasis on cost-effective and dependable solutions.
Although QR codes may appear to be relatively small, these codes are capable of much more. They specialized in providing a more seamless and simple asset management operation than ever before.
Although other tagging methods have additional features and advantages, businesses choose barcode or QR Code asset tracking technologies because of their low operating expenses and convenience of use. Differentiating it from other asset tracking platforms.
What Is Barcode or QR Code Asset Tracking?
For organisations of all sizes, barcode asset monitoring is a simple and cost-effective approach to managing and tracking their physical assets. Whether used for inventory and stock control or lifecycle management, barcode asset tracking requires two components: a barcode label and a reader.
Barcode labels come in a range of shapes and sizes. From 1D to 2D barcodes, including Data Matrix and Quick Response (QR) codes. Despite their differences in capabilities, each type of barcode label is utilised to store data. This data is represented by various numbers and letters, which are subsequently decoded by a reader, which is often a barcode scanner or mobile device.
The flexibility to print barcodes on-site is a significant aspect that makes barcode asset monitoring appealing to smaller enterprises. Data is assigned to a unique barcode, which is then printed and adhered to an asset. Whether it's a company's fixed assets, IT assets like monitors and keyboards, or financial assets like stock and inventories.
Aside from being a low-cost alternative to time-consuming manual monitoring methods like pen and paper, barcode asset tracking provides a slew of other advantages, including:
Inventory precision has improved.
Accelerating asset data collecting
reducing the price of asset tracking
Error reduction
Record-keeping Simplified
Almost no employee training is required