Your business, along with many others, may operate perfectly well using a paper-based stock control system. Reams of stock sheets are printed out, staff count or confirm the stock held on file is correct, everything is inputted and your business goes on to serve customers for another day.
There is an adage ‘if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it’. However, the world is changing and your business needs to be more responsive. Leave technology behind and you will find that you are not competing with other businesses on a level playing field.
Barcode scanners are not just about keeping an eye on stock or tracking parcels. They offer every 
business the opportunity to be even more responsive to its own needs, that of the market in which it dominates, and the needs, wants and desires of your customers.
For small businesses to larger global corporations, to startups to medium sized enterprises, barcode scanner offers many benefits, all of which improve the efficiency of your business.
1. Quick, Simple And Easy To Update Your Business Picture
From stock in the warehouse to monitoring how quickly goods are picked, packed and shipped - these are just two examples of how barcode scanners and their ‘background systems’ can streamline your business. They offer you the ability to be updated on the position of key components of your business as frequently as you want. Can you say that about a paper-based system?
2. Lower Labour Costs
Adopting a barcode scanner system can produce significant financial savings for your business. This doesn’t mean that barcodes replace people but rather free up employee time so that they can focus on key productivity tasks.
For example, stock taking can take hours with a manual, paper based system but with barcode scanners, you can maintain a more effective ‘running total’ of stock on shelves or in the warehouse.
3. Environmentally Friendly Option
You may have a very tight environmental policy and you may recycle every scrap of paper but there are costs to businesses recycling or shredding paperwork etc.
With barcode scanners, you are reducing further your impact on the environment, a welcome bonus for any business, irrespective of their size and function.
And with many of the latest handheld scanners offering fantastic battery time, the need to use electricity to recharge them is also minimal.
4. Stock Location Prowess
The humble barcode scanner can do so much. The background operating system will dictate how and for what purpose the scanner is used.
But it has superior tracking qualities which is why so many delivery firms, along with warehousing businesses have long used scanners.
If you struggle to find stock on your shelves, the barcode scanner can help.
If you struggle to understand why you keep running out of key items or products, the barcode scanner can help.
If you need to allow customers to keep track of their deliveries online, the barcode scanner is the piece of equipment that can give them the peace of mind their delivery will be delivered to the right place and on time.
5. Accurate And Real-Time Reporting
Your business changes daily. The stock on the shelves in the morning is no longer there by close of business. The parcels that were waiting to be dispatched are now scattered across the country or even the globe.
A paper-based system will be slow to respond to these changes but barcode scanners, along with a powerful database and operating system, will give you the real-time reporting you need.
How do you think barcode scanners will impact on the efficiency of your business?