Dave Riley, chairman of Syntechnologies discusses mobile technology trends and opportunities in retail
Dave Riley, chairman of Syntechnologies discusses mobile technology trends and opportunities in retail
Retailers have been the prime user of auto-ID and mobile computing hardware for a number of years now.
According to Riley, who heads up the auto ID and mobile computing firm Syntechnologies, all but the smallest shops will be making use of handheld barcode terminals to control the efficient movement of goods all the way through their warehousing and logistics operations to the High Street sales outlet. He said that the devices will increasingly be used with wireless network infrastructures giving real-time data collection and access.
“Within the retail logistics environment the latest mobile data collection devices are likely to be robust, voice enabled and be fitted with accelerometers,” Riley continued. “The voice technology allows the devices to be used as voice picking tools delivering real efficiency benefits to traditional order picking routines, as well as peer-to-peer communications, or as mobile phones. The accelerometers allow the devices to know their orientation and how they are being used.
“Practical uses for this facility are automatic device wake up in use, monitoring of shock and impacts, length of time in use and auto screen orientation changes.”
Innovations show the way
He continued: “Recent innovations allow the integration of such voice enabled devices with other communication systems such as VoIP [voice-over internet protocol] phones, pagers and walkie-talkies. New screen technologies will allow the user to view picking instructions as ‘on lens’ prompts on spectacles incorporating data screens and second-generation wearable scanners are lighter and utilise Bluetooth to avoid cabling.
“With GPRS and associated technologies such as GPS mobile data collection devices are truly useable outside of the traditional WiFi envelope and used to great effect with delivery systems and by mobile technicians.
“In the retailers’ stores the applications used on the mobile devices become ever more critical to the smooth running of the retailers operations. And the durability and robustness of both the wireless infrastructure and the devices is key to ensuring that the devices are available for use continuously. As a means of maintaining the devices at optimum availability, the use of remote device access and management software can be crucial. Remote management of devices can provide battery condition monitoring, remote kill and stun of lost devices, maintenance of software and firmware versions, usage statistics as well as automatic fault call logging.
“With remote management of the wireless environment intruder detection and monitoring and self-healing properties have long been part of the retailer’s toolbox. Latest remote management software enhances these features and provides proactive management of the wireless infrastructure in an ever more congested wireless spectrum.”
Riley added that, “with centralised wireless network management the infrastructure can be used as a push marketing tool to WiFi-enabled phone users and content can be controlled to very specific locations, so for instance Apple iPhone users could access in store vouchers or specific technical information when stood next to the goods, but not elsewhere in store”.
Integration offers added benefits
“Latest mobile terminals can again be integrated with mobile phones, pagers and walkie-talkies whilst new fixed mobile convergence (FMC) technologies will have strong returns on investment as company mobile phone users are switched seamlessly to wifi networks upon entry into the building,” he added.
“Small Microsoft Windows devices are now available utilising cursor navigation rather than relying on touch-screen inputs to maximise screen protection and avoid damage.
“Mobile terminals in conjunction with or integrated with mobile printers have for a long time been used for mobile PoS [point-of-sale] and queue-busting applications; with the inclusion of Near field communication (NFC) readers the latest device will be able to embrace the walkthrough benefits such breaking technologies.
“Again RFID [radio frequency identification] terminals are increasingly being used to control high-ticket items, as well as allowing item histories and traceability information to be store on the RFID tag.
“Retailers were early adopters of auto-ID technologies and have long reaped the efficiency benefits their investment brought,” concluded Riley. “There is a huge range of opportunities in this market vertical still with the evolution of these newer devices and applications.”
