It’s the Little Things That Matter Most to Your Business, Especially When It Comes to Choosing (and Being Happy with) Your Barcode Scanners

It's the little things in life that seem to have the greatest impact on our well-being and happiness. The same is true in business, especially when it comes to technology.

For example, many retail, healthcare, and hospitality leaders have been telling me they would be so much happier if devices like barcode scanners were physically smaller and easier to install and manage.  

They know they need compact customer-facing scanners at checkout lanes, online order pickup stations, and in kiosks (whether used for self-service ordering or check-in). They also see the value of having fixed barcode scanners at centralized or mobile point-of-sale (POS) lanes. But they don’t want these scanning devices to be so “in your face.” They need to be visible, but they also need to blend in.

If we could solve this little thing – tone down the dominating physical presence of standalone barcode scanners – it would make a big difference to them, they’ve said. It would help them achieve their desired aesthetic design in customer-facing spaces, and it would enable them to declutter workspaces a bit more, increasing efficiency and productivity. (Maybe you feel the same way.)

Another little thing these business leaders believe could have a big impact on employee satisfaction would be to simplify the setup and management of barcode scanners. Many scanners in stores, restaurants, and hospitals today are not just seen as physically obtrusive but also technically obtrusive. Operations managers and IT teams struggle to get them synced up with other devices and talking to information systems. Once they get the initial setup complete, they find that it takes a lot of effort to monitor and manage the scanners. This often leads to less-than-stellar performance (because scanners need routine, proactive maintenance like printers or mobile computing devices). People start getting frustrated – feeling they’ve wasted money or they’re stuck using a device that isn’t working well. It’s not a good situation, but it’s one that can be avoided if they could find scanners that were so simple to set up and manage that they were almost easy to forget about.

Of course, scanners with these traits do exist. You can buy several right now that have built-in wizards to help even non-technical people quickly get the scanners configured and online. There are also scanners that can be remotely managed or kept running perfectly with semi-automated software updates.

However, the biggest concern from the people I spoke with is that these positive traits weren’t commonly found in the barcode scanners most often pitched to them for use in kiosks or on countertops or mobile workstations.

So, my curiosity was piqued, and my wheels started churning. I asked them what other “little things” they had on their wish list. There were five things that kept coming up (in so many words):

1. “It would be great if I could use the same barcode scanners across my entire business. I don’t want to have one model at cashier-staffed checkout lanes, another model at self-checkout lanes, and yet a third model for my self-service kiosks or online order pickup lockers.”

2. “I want [patients, shoppers, store associates, lab techs, pharmacists, etc.] to be able to quickly walk up to a check-in/checkout lane, a kiosk, or workstation flash the barcoded item, paper, or ID/loyalty card in front of the scanner, then be able to move on. I don’t want them to have to pick up a scanner with one hand to scan whatever is in the other hand. And I don’t want them to have to try to perfectly position the barcode in front of the scanner. That’s how people and lines get backed up.”

3. “I want it to be easier to keep the scanners clean. They’re going to be in spaces where hygiene is important (i.e., a lab or pharmacy).”

4. “I want to have more mounting and accessory options for my barcode scanners. If I want to use a third-party mount, I should be able to. If I want to install a kiosk or wall-mounted barcode scanner with a smaller footprint for online order pickups, I should be able to work with third-party solution designers to do that. I shouldn’t have to be stuck using the one or two mounting accessories offered by the scanner original equipment manufacturer (OEM).”

5. “I would love it if the barcode scanner could read text and not just a barcode/QR code. If it could parse all the other data on that piece of paper or ID in addition to reading the barcode data, that would make it so much easier to process transactions such as bill payments or patient records.”

So, it has been my mission the past several months to sit down with engineers and figure out if all these “little things” that matter from a design, management, and usability perspective could be baked into a single, corded barcode scanner. Could we make the little changes that were a big deal to these people (and possibly to you)?

Fortunately, I am surrounded by really smart, innovative people who surprisingly didn’t say “no” to any of the requests I made on behalf of these business leaders. These engineers were able to deliver a barcode scanner that addressed all the little things that were bugging people about their current barcode scanners.

So, I guess the moral of the story here is:

Don’t be afraid to express your frustrations to people willing to listen, and never hesitate to ask for something you know will improve your efficiency and well-being or someone else’s. It might be easier than you think to get what you want.

Just ask all the business leaders who recently got what they wanted in a barcode scanner (and got it quickly).