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Five Industries Benefiting Most from RFID and Barcode Solutions 

Five Industries Benefiting Most from RFID and Barcode Solutions

Radio Frequency Identification and Barcodes are valuable tools for tracking inventory and improving supply chain management. Many companies are using RFID tags to create inventory systems that are better and gain new details about how the products move through the supply chain. Consumers are also starting to see the benefits of RFID tags and barcode solutions   when they check out groceries or order items online and it is no surprise that RFID and barcode solutions have been labeled a game changer in many ways. 

Retail Industry 

Using RFID and barcode solutions in a retail industry, such as grocery stores, clothing stores, or convenience stores, can ensure the level of efficiency that is needed to provide the best customer service. Implementing RFID and barcode solutions in retail stores helps to: 

  • Reduce any friction at the checkout points 
  • Improve point-of-sale transactions to a large extent 
  • Enhance the inventory management 

Automotive Industry 

Starting from the individual parts to finished vehicles, RFID and barcodes are largely changing the automotive sector. RFID has now become the most trusted industry standard to track the tires’ lifecycle. Companies are now using RFID to track tires during manufacturing to speed up and improve the processes. As tires leave the manufacturing unit, they can be tracked throughout the supply chain even into warehouses today. 

 RFID and barcodes are digitizing the automotive field by: 

  • Keeping track of essential parts during the vehicle assembly 
  • Ensuring that the vehicle is shipped correctly and without any hassle 
  • Allowing full traceability throughout production stages 

Transportation and Logistics 

The logistics business moves a variety of goods in large amounts every single day. RFID tags facilitate tracing and managing these products in each phase. 

RFID technology can automate all the processes within the supply chain making it easier to track pallets, cartons, and even containers. It offers advanced technology for capturing, storing, and exchanging information about transport means, packaging, and transport units and goods on their way to destinations. RFID can also capture important transport and storage conditions such as humidity, shock, temperature etc. This can help to guarantee safety throughout the transportation to protect genuine parts from counterfeit and provide real-time data for the operators. 

RFID offers seamless logistics as well as supply chain management by: 

  • Reducing human errors and inventory mismatch 
  • Automating shipping-related tasks 
  • Providing real-time product updates 

Assuring Accuracy in the Aviation Industry 

RFID and barcodes are a key factor in improving efficiency in the aviation industry and offering a better travel experience. RFID encoding standards are crucial in ensuring optimal functionality. Tags might be put on returnable transport items, clothing, or even parts that are shipped to the customers. It would not be possible for multiple parties to read the same RFID tags if the data on these tags were not standardized. 

Even though RAIN RFID is reliable and supports real-time tracking, it still has challenges such as RAIN flooding and Acid RAIN which require proper encoding. The best way to get past those challenges is to use proper formatting to optimize RAIN RFID tags for the best functionality.

Healthcare Industry 

RFID and barcodes can be leveraged to improve the tracking of pharmaceutical products throughout the supply chain.  

RFID barcode asset tracking can be used in hospitals or patient care facilities to verify stock and determine whether the right dosage is being administered. When a certain medication has passed its expiration date and must be replaced, medical staff can be immediately informed. 

Printers can be used to print RFID wristbands to verify the patient’s identity and tag costly healthcare devices to monitor movement in real-time for better asset tracking. 

Harnessing the Power of RFID 

Industries from retail to healthcare to biotech, logistics, horticulture and field service are all adopting RFID and barcode technology for better tracking and inventory management. The benefits of choosing a good RFID solution provider and/or barcode solution provider are clear: companies can cut down on excess inventory, track shipments more accurately, improve efficiency, and save money. By using the right RFID and barcode solutions companies can be more cost-effective and maximize their profits. 

As outlined in this blog, adopting RFID technology can be a complex choice, requiring careful planning, implementation as well as ongoing support. As an industry professional looking to implement RFID technology in your processes, partnering with a reliable and experienced RFID solutions provider is extremely crucial for your business. By leveraging the expertise of an experienced provider and staying up to date with the latest advancements in RFID technology, you can position your business for success in today’s ever-changing industry. 

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Product Technology Uncategorized

The Importance of Cybersecurity in Asset Tracking Software

The Importance of Cybersecurity in Asset Tracking Software

What is Cybersecurity in Asset Management? 

Cybersecurity asset management is the process of identifying the IT assets that your organization owns and the potential security risks that affect each one on a real-time basis. 

Assets can take many forms. They could be traditional devices, such as PCs and servers or they could be specialized IoT, IoMT, IIoT, or OT devices or even software-defined resources, like a cloud-based database or company-owned domains. 

Any device, resource or service that exists within the IT estate could be prone to risks and vulnerabilities that lead to a breach of the individual resource or network or if the attackers use one such compromised resource to launch a broader attack. 

Importance of Cybersecurity in Asset Management: 

Cybersecurity in asset management empowers the security team, as well as the business, with the visibility it needs to build comprehensive security strategies that mitigate threats quickly and proactively. This kind of an approach delivers many key benefits: 

  • Cybersecurity is not a distraction: With strong cybersecurity in asset management in place, businesses can deploy new IT services without letting security become a distraction or even a hindrance. They can make decisions based on business priorities, with the confidence that whichever changes they make, will be caught by their cybersecurity in asset management process for potential vulnerabilities. 
  • Proactive response: Cybersecurity in asset management helps the security teams detect any potential threats even before they become a very serious problem. By continuously and effectively keeping track of new deployments as well as risks, teams don’t have to wait till they detect any active attack to respond to it. 
  • Security visibility: If an attack does occur, cybersecurity in asset management will provide the security team with an inventory of assets and risks that can be used to gain context on what went wrong and when it went wrong. Instead of having to redo the whole deployments and configurations to track the origins of a breach or vulnerability, the teams will have an up-to-date record that they can easily refer to almost immediately. 

In the above-mentioned ways, cybersecurity in asset management puts businesses in a much stronger position to identify and react to any possible security risks. Although cybersecurity in asset management is only a component of an effective cybersecurity strategy, it’s not possible to maintain a proactive security operation without cybersecurity in asset management in place in most cases. 

Risks Associated with Poor Cybersecurity in Asset Management 

Lack of cybersecurity in asset management software solution or asset tracking software, or poor implementation of the same, does not just make security operations more challenging but also creates many critical risks for the business. 

The major one among these is a higher risk of business disruptions. If any essential data or systems are made unavailable by any breach, the business may not be able to operate well. Such disruptions will harm the business’s reputation and have serious financial consequences. 

Poor asset management in cyber security also makes it extremely difficult to maintain a continuous and accurate inventory of the IT resources that are available. Without knowing what exists in the IT business, you will be left guessing about where the most serious risks lie. Lack of such things is what makes it difficult to deploy security resources efficiently and to respond to such issues when and if they arise. 

Also, ineffective cybersecurity in asset management undercuts the security team’s ability to operate efficiently. This makes it difficult to automate the security operations when there is a lack of an accurate listing of which resources or risks exist and instead, left to find and secure devices manually, which makes it a poor use of time and money. 

Why Prioritize Cybersecurity in Asset Management? 

Organizations have been placing little priority on asset management in cybersecurity simply because the tools necessary to automate cybersecurity in asset management processes didn’t exist till a few years back. It also wasn’t practical to maintain real-time and continuous inventories manually as well. 

With the rise of automated resource discovery and threat identification tools, cybersecurity in asset management plays a large role in security operations across a variety of verticals in today’s times. It’s critical not just for software and IT businesses, but for all organizations that rely on software and hardware to power its operations. 

In manufacturing, asset management helps ensure high-value equipment, such as diagnostics and monitoring systems, and machine sensors, remain secure and free of threats that could disrupt the operations. 

Cybersecurity asset management also protects healthcare organizations, which face high rates of ransomware attacks and vulnerabilities that may exist within specialized devices deployed as part of the Internet of Medical Things. 

Any enterprise that deploys connected devices to help manage and monitor physical infrastructure, collect business data and extend networks into spaces needs asset management to keep those devices and the business secure and free of threats. 

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Product

How to Choose the Right Inventory Tracking System for You

How to Choose the Right Inventory Tracking System

Fast-growing enterprises need a sophisticated approach to keep pace with incoming opportunities as well as successes. 

If you find yourself in a situation where you are pivoting to a more robust inventory management that can resolve existing bottlenecks, you are not alone! 

But you must ensure it works well with your current business workflow. 

In this blog, we’ll talk about why you need the best inventory management software, how to choose the right one, and how to make sure it serves your business infrastructure. 

How can an inventory management system help? 

An inventory tracking system keeps track and oversees all your stock products and raw materials with accuracy. 

While some software solutions manage the entire supply chain, others are more focused on certain aspects of business, like shipping, storage, fulfillment and so on. It’s your job to assess what your business requires in the long term. 

Here are the features available for inventory management: 

  • Forecasting inventory levels  
  • Tracking inventory in real-time  
  • Generating reports  
  • Managing warehouses  
  • Implementing inventory barcoding  
  • Managing price lists  
  • Conducting product cycle counts  
  • Streamlining the ordering process for optimization  
  • Managing customer relationships 

These system capabilities work together to avoid bad purchasing decisions leading to issues like overages or stockouts. 

Is it time for you to switch to an inventory management solution? 

If you’re a growing business, then the answer is – yes! Start-ups can make do with manual inventory systems during the early stages, but as the volume of transactions grows, it’s important to have a more advanced solution.  

You should switch to an inventory management solution if you have: 

  • A surplus of obsolete inventory 
  • Time-consuming procedures 
  • Consistent negative cash flow 
  • Excessive ordering and storage costs 
  • Lack of real-time data for urgent decisions 

Without the right inventory system, the above-mentioned circumstances can drain your finances, which is considered a potential red flag. This can lead to low inventory turnover and excessive working capital, which means – idle funds in the inventory. 

Tips on how to choose inventory management software:

1. Type of Inventory System 

You can choose a suitable inventory system based on the infrastructure. There are of two types: on-premises and cloud-based solutions. 

On-premises Inventory System 

On-premises inventory system runs on their own servers and comes with licenses. These systems are suitable for both single as well as multi-warehouse environments. They can also adapt to the most complex of processes. 

Advantages 

  • Greater customization 
  • Enhanced data security 
  • Complete ownership and control 
  • No influence from any external factors 

Disadvantages 

  • High upfront cost 
  • High maintenance costs 
  • More difficult to deploy 
  • Long downtime 

Cloud-based Inventory System 

Businesses of all sizes can benefit from cloud-hosted software as it is affordable and accessible at the same time. You’ll often see this inventory system as software-as-a-service (SaaS) application hosted on vendor servers and billed monthly or even annually. 

Advantages 

  • No upfront costs and affordable maintenance costs 
  • Scalable on-demand and flexible 
  • Accessible on any device at any time 
  • Quick implementation  
  • App marketplace with add-ons 

Disadvantages 

  • Internet dependence 
  • Higher long-term costs 
  • Unsuitable for complex development needs 

2. Business maturity 

Business maturity goes beyond how long one has been in the business. It also includes how established one is in the industry. Not all platforms can be scalable to meet the needs of ever-growing organizations. So, find one that fits your own requirements by understanding your business and defining the following: 

  • Business size  
  • Number of SKUs across multiple locations 
  • Number of monthly/annual transactions 
  • Number of staff with access to the platform 

3. Selling channels 

If you are using more than one selling platform, then make sure your software can handle multi-channel integrations. Your inventory system should be able to sync your balances from the many selling channels as well as locations like: 

  • Brick-and-mortar shops 
  • Online store websites 
  • Mobile apps 
  • Self-service  
  • Consignment 
  • Reselling 
  • Third-party marketplaces 

4. Cost 

Estimate how much budget can be devoted to your inventory system in the long run. Depending on the method you choose you will be priced: 

  • Onetime licensing fee 
  • Regular monthly subscription 
  • Discounted annual subscription 
  • Flexible plans based on budget 
  • Flat rate interest per transaction 

5. Company goals 

Whether you want to increase your revenue over the next two quarters and your portfolio comprises small, cheap items and huge, expensive equipment or you need to decide which of them are worth investing in to achieve your goal. 

Whatever your goals may be, your inventory system needs to be flexible enough to adapt to all your needs. 

6. Features 

Features are what separates the best inventory software programs from any other available options and help you choose the right system for your business. Some features are a nice addition to have, but here are some that are non-negotiable: 

  • Data security 
  • Inventory tracking 
  • Stock transfer control 
  • Product segmentation 
  • Automatic replenishment 
  • Reports and analytics 
  • Third-party software integration 

Considering the expanded knowledge of how inventory systems can contribute to overall company efficiency and cost savings, it’s time to put your knowledge into practice and begin searching for a good solution for your business needs.