When did you last use a traditional calculator instead of the app on your phone? Smartphones have replaced an army of niche, single-purpose devices and now sit in almost every pocket, home, office, warehouse, and store. Now, they’re making a strong case for themselves as the go-to modern solution for barcode scanning. 

Dedicated barcode scanners are effective but also bulky and limited to a single function. Smartphones and tablets, on the other hand, have transformed into cutting-edge scanners that are equally as effective as dedicated hardware. 

As scanners, however, smartphones and tablets maintain the flexibility and mobility that fueled their swift rise in the workplace, and that’s what gives them the advantage over traditional scanning solutions.

Mobile devices offer huge advantages over dedicated barcode scanners

Businesses can easily transition from dedicated hardware to mobile devices with the Samsung solution, Knox Capture, which leverages industry-leading camera technology packed into even the most affordable off-the-shelf smart devices. 

Smartphones are omnipresent, which in itself is an opportunity that businesses should utilize. Why opt for costly dedicated hardware when a Samsung device can do it all?  

With affordable devices and time-saving business solutions, organizations in all industries can transform Galaxy phones and tablets into effective scanners at minimal cost, almost instantly. This method could mean significant savings on the procurement, maintenance, and replacement of the niche hardware that gets replaced. 

Those savings could be compounded considerably in bring-your-own-device (BYOD) scenarios, which a reported 82% of organizations already have some experience in.

It’s our familiarity with smartphones and tablets as a society that drives their subtler benefit as scanning solutions: using them is second-nature for most workers. With almost 7 billion smartphones in the world, employees are likely to find smartphones more intuitive (and convenient) than scanning hardware they’ve never used before, saving time and money on training.

Enterprises stand to gain the most from transitioning from single-use to multi-purpose scanning solutions

Struggling to scan an item at the point-of-sale slows down the business entirely. And on the shipping and receiving side of operations, slow scanning at a warehouse could slow down an entire supply chain. 

The real scale of scanning is staggering. More than 6 billion barcodes are scanned every day. 

If each of those scans took place just one millisecond faster, the world would save a jaw-dropping 70 days of productivity. At the enterprise scale, the relatively small boosts to efficiency and reliability as a result of a switch to multi-purpose smartphone scanning could cascade into huge gains.

One Samsung Galaxy device for everything you need

Using smart devices as scanners is why-didn’t-I-think-of-that elegant, but there’s still the vital software layer to discuss. Samsung’s solution is Knox Capture: an app that transforms Samsung devices into scanners by equipping them with enterprise-grade, yet easy-to-use, data capture capabilities.

A Samsung device loaded with Knox Capture becomes a complete mobile scanning solution with rapid camera boot-up and accurate auto-focus, and maintains the other features of the device. Watch Knox Capture in action and see for yourself. 

Simply put, workers using Knox Capture can scan, record, and work with greater productivity and a smaller device footprint than those wielding cumbersome dedicated scanners.  

Knox Capture enables quick and smart scanning

Enterprises can’t afford to lose precious seconds in their logistics processes. That’s why Knox Capture was designed to go toe-to-toe with even the most bespoke, advanced modern scanning solutions. Single, selective, or all-at-once batch scanning options are all available to fit a variety of scenarios while advanced, powerful features like augmented reality (AR) can unlock new ways to work. 

Other apps can receive the data obtained by the Knox Capture app, with control over keystroke output rules in apps, which all but guarantees its compatibility with uniquely customized data intake processes.   

Scanning profiles can even be set on an app level, smoothly spreading configurations to every app that needs it. Admins can enable flash or zoom, specify the barcode types that can or can’t be captured, add a beep or a vibration after each scan, and more. 

Save time with rapid deployment and peerless ease-of-use

Even when convinced of the superiority of smartphone-based scanning solutions, it’s difficult to leave behind dedicated scanners and migrate your business’ workflows. That’s why Knox Capture simplifies the deployment and adds helpful features to make the decision easy. 

Knox Capture can be downloaded from the Google Play store, and from there, it’s a sublimely straightforward process for admins to configure profiles and identify which business applications require scanning functionality.

With deployment out of the way, workers are immediately ready to scan data right into a business app, or fields of the admin’s choosing.

Knox Capture and Samsung Galaxy Rugged series: The perfect combo for frontline productivity

Many of the environments in which scanning takes place are busy, boisterous places. The sales counter in a busy department store or the receiving dock of a warehouse isn’t for faint hearts or fragile screens. 

Dedicated barcode scanners have long been designed for durability to protect them from the rigors of their applications, but even this benefit can be matched by the right smartphone.

Ruggedized mobile devices like the Samsung Galaxy Rugged series’ XCover7¹ are designed to keep their users connected and protected in extreme environments. And they provide a great deal more than ‘just’ protection.

With Knox Capture installed, the XCover7 becomes the ultimate scanning solution. Two programmable keys can be remapped to launch Knox Capture or trigger other scanning functions, saving precious time, while the IP68/IP65 rated¹ approval means workers can wield it inside or outside; it’s resistant to water, dust, and suited for tough work. 

That’s on top of all the other features and apps that a Galaxy device can provide, and it’s all protected and empowered by an even greater suite of software. 

Better together: Knox Capture is a part of Knox Suite

Knox Capture is part of Knox Suite, an all-in-one solution that maximizes productivity and security of corporate devices, while also optimizing everyday business use. Knox Capture works within the Knox Suite bundle to maximize employee productivity.

Knox Capture makes business easier

The many advantages of swapping from a hardware to a software-based scanning solution like Knox Capture are clear, and Knox Suite quashes the barriers. Now is the perfect time to make the switch.

If it sounds too good to be true, why not try a 90-day free trial of the entire Knox Suite? All you need is a Samsung device and you can test out the intricate AR overlay scanning features of Knox Capture, and a bevy of other time-saving tools and solutions all at once.