Across industries like healthcare, education, construction, and retail, one simple tool powers faster workflows and smarter inventory: the mobile barcode scanner. As the concept of mobile barcode scanning becomes more popular among organizations of all sizes, many people still ask, how does a mobile barcode scanner work, especially when it comes to real-time data syncing, asset tracking, and secure cloud management?
Whether you’re managing IT equipment or auditing machinery across multiple job sites, a mobile barcode scanner can transform how you handle inventory and assets. Below, we’ll explore the key components that make mobile barcode scanning effective, from the technology behind barcodes to how the process works on a mobile device, and how asset tracking platforms like Asset Panda are leading the way in enabling real-time visibility and control over assets from virtually anywhere.
Key takeaways
What barcodes enable: They’re machine-readable IDs that link a physical item to its digital asset record for fast, reliable tracking.
How mobile scanning works: A phone/tablet camera captures the code, decodes it, pulls up the matching asset record, and syncs any updates to the cloud in real time.
Why use phones over dedicated scanners: Lower cost and fewer devices to manage, with quick, accurate scans plus real-time visibility (and offline support) for teams on the go.
Comparesoft describes barcode asset tracking as “an easy to use and cost-effective way for businesses of all sizes to manage and track their physical assets. Whether being used for inventory and stock control or lifecycle management, there are two elements that make barcode asset tracking possible: a barcode label and a reader.”
You’d be hard-pressed to find a business, an organization, or an industry (the manufacturing sector is a great example) that couldn’t benefit from comprehensive and accurate fixed barcode asset tracking.
Nearly every organization depends on items like physical space, furniture, office supplies, land, industrial equipment, and IT fixed assets (computer equipment and software) to function efficiently, generate revenue, or otherwise maintain operations.
Fixed assets are long-term, tangible pieces of property or equipment that a company or organization owns and uses in its operations to generate income. The value of these items depreciates as you use the assets. You must record depreciation on the organization’s balance sheet.
Without a system of recordkeeping, organizations have no way to determine at any given time the fixed assets they own, what condition those items are in, and the location of their assets.
An “out of sight, out of mind” approach leads to lost or stolen assets, ghost assets, a lot of guesswork come audit time, costly accounting and tax errors, wasted time and money, unpreparedness, and general frustration.
Barcode asset tracking assigns a unique barcode to each fixed asset that, when scanned, identifies the exact location of the item along with other key attributes determined by the company. In conjunction with an asset tracking platform, barcodes can link users to such data as an item’s comprehensive maintenance history, maintenance schedule, check-in/check-out status, depreciation and associated photos, voice notes, videos, or other records relevant to the item.
Barcode asset tracking delivers numerous benefits, including improved inventory management, faster asset data collection, lower asset tracking costs, reduced errors, simplified recordkeeping, and a relatively easy rollout process that requires minimal employee training.
Most modern organizations are beginning to understand that barcode asset tracking is vital for their success, not just for accounting and compliance purposes. A barcode can obtain real-time updates on a product’s location, whether it moved from one site to another or is in for a scheduled maintenance update.
By scanning barcodes, you can easily manage assets regardless of their location. Using barcodes for asset tracking also reduces the risk of human error, which can be devastating to a company if data is entered incorrectly.
Here are some additional benefits to consider when it comes to the relevance of scanning barcodes in asset tracking systems:
- Captures of vast amounts of information about each asset
- Increases data integrity
- Increased accountability
- Reduction of labor costs due to shorter time of inventory data entry
- Immediate access to the location of each asset
- Eliminates missed maintenance schedules
When you use asset tracking software with a barcode scanner, you:
- Get immediate, real-time, and accurate results
- Eliminate the inefficiency and potential for error associated with manual asset tracking
- Save time and money while promoting accountability among your employees
There are dozens of apps available that allow your phone to scan barcodes, from 2D to QR codes to the classic black bars. In the not-so-distant past, administrators had to use a separate handheld barcode scanner to keep track of a company’s vital fixed assets to enter each item into their records.
Those scanners were typically limited in number because they were pretty expensive. And just like most hardware, handheld scanners required service and eventually replacement. It’s no secret that we’re all trying to do more with less, scrutinizing the bottom line and searching for faster, more effective ways to do our jobs.
And when it comes to asset tracking, using smartphones or tablets equipped with up-to-date asset tracking software featuring barcode scanning capabilities is revolutionizing how assets are tracked.
Imagine the ability to manage the entire world of your fixed assets – including your IT assets – from your smartphone 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with no other equipment required. Asset tracking with barcodes offers unparalleled convenience when combined with a mobile scanner. A barcode tracking system dramatically streamlines the asset tracking process. It makes it possible for companies and organizations to maximize the use of the tracking system by all stakeholders involved in the lifecycles of their fixed assets.
Asset Tracker’s simple but powerful mobile asset tracking platform is steadily gaining ground as the true leader in asset tracking. Asset Panda’s free Android and iPhone/iPad mobile apps sync with the cloud and include a mobile barcode scanner, a key software component.
When you tie your barcode scanner to an asset tracking app like Asset Panda, your vital assets’ entire lifecycle lives in the palm of your hand. From your smartphone or tablet, you can enter and view information such as where an asset is and who has it, check-in/check-out status, maintenance schedule, purchase/lease information, depreciation statistics, etc., and so much more. Access your data anytime, anywhere, within seconds.
IT asset tracking is an essential part of the asset tracking discussion because IT is where companies invest thousands, if not millions, of dollars. The failure to maintain and accurately track these assets can significantly and negatively impact the bottom line.
Among the most valuable benefits of IT asset tracking is its transparency to your IT asset management efforts. Users can identify and eliminate problematic IT assets – for example, assets that have had repeated issues causing frequent delays and other disruptions to workflow.
Better visibility into your IT assets also helps administrators stop duplicate purchases before they happen and identify where available assets may be sitting idle so that you may transfer them to teams that need them.
An IT asset tracking platform helps companies stay on top of their records when removing fixed assets from their inventory. In the long term, accurate recordkeeping prevents the all-too-common occurrence of ghost assets, resulting in companies continuing to pay insurance costs for items that aren’t in their respective inventories anymore. They can also set up notifications to ensure they follow the appropriate end-of-life replacement procedures for fixed assets.
Establishing custom alerts helps IT managers keep up with routine updates and services, which doesn’t just keep IT assets running as quickly and efficiently as possible. It also reduces risk exposure, as slow-moving IT equipment that hasn’t been properly maintained and updated can make it easier for would-be hackers to gain access.
From a cost-savings standpoint, with Asset Tracker, your asset tracking system doesn’t require the servicing or replacement associated with handheld barcode scanners. Now you and your employees can cut back on wasted time (and money) searching for lost assets or trying to remember the last time a piece of equipment was serviced.
And with Asset Tracker, you’re entitled to unlimited users at no additional cost, enabling you to add as many stakeholders as you’d like.
Better resource management produces significant savings of time and money. Simple and efficient barcode asset tracking can profoundly impact a company’s bottom line. Learn why Asset Tracker is one of the highest-rated barcode asset tracking software by getting your free 14-day trial (no credit card required)!
