Barcode your data: An Introduction to QR codes

We're always very keen to make information transfer from one location to another as easy as possible. The idea of writing information down only to type it in somewhere else seems like an unnecessary amount of work.

You can imagine how pleased we are, therefore, to show you how you can utilise 2D bar code technology to make information on your website (or any other visible medium) transferrable to mobile phones.

Here's an example:

If you have a mobile phone to hand with a suitable bar-code reader installed you'll be able to point it at the screen and once it is lined up it will register the content of the code. In this case it is the location of our offices.

Here's another example the produces some text that shows how wonderful Emerging Innovations are:

And finally here's an example of a vCard embedded in a QR code. No writing down phone numbers and re-keying them in.

You can create QR codes yourself in a number of ways. The resulting image can be included in a document, name badge or on a website. Even advertisements are now starting to use them to make it easy for potential customers to insert the details into their mobile device.

Perhaps the best tool that we've come across is this QR code generator which provides all of the examples above. However, keep your eyes open for other instances of QR code generators being made available to you: Google's URL shorter goo.gl provides you with a shortened URL (e.g. http://goo.gl/nnKGg) that can be further converted to a QR code by adding .qr to the end of the shortened address.

I've a feeling we're going to hear and read much more about QR codes as they come to maturity so make sure you're aware and ready to use them for the convenience of your customers right now.