What are QR codes?
A QR Code, or quick response code, is a Code that is quickly readable by a cell phone (hence the word ‘quick’ in the name). Using a combination of spacing as a type of Matrix Barcode (a 2-D Barcode), when a QR Code is scanned, it conveys a wide array of information. QR Codes have a wide range of uses across all types of industries such as retail, hospitality, manufacturing, marketing, and logistics.
How QR codes came into existence
Like the development of many technologies, QR Codes were created out of necessity. QR Codes started as Barcodes with their typical purpose – for supermarkets. In the 1960s, Japan was experiencing a wave of economic growth. Supermarkets expanded from selling just food items to adding in clothing and a versatile range of other commodities. So, they realized that they needed a way to keep track of everything.
As a result of the growing demand for technology to lighten the burden on supermarket cashiers, a POS system was created. It was the newborn baby version of a Barcode that allowed for the scanning of individual items to be registered by a computer. Despite this effort, however, this still was not enough. Supermarkets then faced another obstacle: Barcodes could only store up to around 20 alphanumeric characters of information and function with one dimension (one direction of coding).
The invention of the QR Code can be attributed to DENSO WAVE and their lead developer Masahiro Hara. They were contacted by supermarkets who realized the limits of these Barcodes and sought a way to make them more versatile and contain more information through the development of a 2-D Code (two directions of coding).
With only two team members, Hara first came up with the idea of the square, because their research showed that it was an easily distinguishable shape. This shape additionally allowed for both horizontally and vertically Coded information. A further advantage was that this also boosted the speed at which this information could be read (up to 10x faster than Barcodes).
The combination was a jackpot. DENSO WAVE made its invention of the QR Code public in 1994 without maintaining patent rights and the use of QR Codes spread like wildfire.
QR Codes in today’s world
Despite having such enormous potential to store coded information, QR codes began to fall out of trend as time went on, with advancements in barcode technology, the use of quick response codes started to plummet.
However, for QR codes, the 2020 covid-19 pandemic served as a lifesaver, with the general public, businesses, government services, even restaurants looking for ways to minimize contact between individuals, this quick and easy to use technology began to unfurl its true potential.
Applications of QR codes
1. Retail Industry
- Engaging shoppers with video AD’s: It is common knowledge that the way we consume content has experienced a seismic shift in the last decade. Reading something only invokes 10% memory retention whereas watching videos helps viewers retain 95% of the core message. That is precisely why businesses should employ video QR codes to show off the stellar features of a product or display an advertisement to garner a shopper’s attention.
- Increase conversions using QR games: With the rampant increase in hyper-casual games that do not require intensive brainpower, marketers can push such games through QR codes to shoppers with lucrative incentives like a discount or winning freebies thus increasing the conversion rates. This can also be used as a compelling way to engage with customers walking by advertising a ‘Scan and Win’ poster outside the store.
iii. Increasing app downloads:
Instagram and Angry Birds used creative QR codes to get customers to download their apps. These codes unambiguously conveyed their unique brand voice and served a dual purpose. One was obviously to get new customers to download their app and the other was to establish their brand by inducing brand familiarity through the QR code advertisement.
2. The Hospitality Sector
i. Check-in made easy:
QR codes can be presented to guests upon reservation on a printed page to facilitate express check-in. This paves the way for an accelerated check-in process for guests upon arrival, eliminating long waiting lines and making way for a seamless hassle-free experience.
ii. Switch to a digital menu:
Customers gauge the quality of hotels and their efforts in enhancing the customer experience with room service facilities.
Most hotels have upped their technology game for room services by introducing contactless interior changes, automatic laundry and food orders, and additional requests.
However, in this tech-savvy age, room menus are still on paper.
iii. Share contact details effortlessly:
Guests usually do not have their hotel’s contact details stored in their smartphones, especially out-of-state travellers.
Hotels must make sure their contact details are always accessible by their guests to book a taxi, change check-in or check-out time, and accept special requests.
Include QR codes on business cards, pamphlets, and menus, so customers can save the hotel’s contact details on their smartphones.
Link the QR code to a web page that allows guests to edit their reservations and even request individual customization.
3. Education
i. Book Reviews:
QR codes are created for specific books, linking to reviews, trailers, or additional resources. The QR codes are then printed on stickers and stuck inside the cover of the book. This is great as students can scan and learn more about the book before they choose to read it. Taking this concept, a step further, try getting students to create their book reviews or trailers. The content can then be posted to the class blog or wiki and linked to the physical book via QR code.
ii. Multimedia Content:
A popular use for QR codes in education is to add multimedia content to hard copy pages. It is kind of like a stepping stone on our way to fully digitized textbooks and worksheets. The below example is one of my favourites where the elements of the periodic table have been replaced with QR codes. Each code links to a YouTube video discussing the element in question.
4.Healthcare
i. Patient identification:
QR Codes can serve as an important tool in helping healthcare providers to keep the correct track of patients throughout their administration. QR Codes can be embedded in the patient’s medical bracelet and their medical history datasheet to access the patient’s information.
Patient information from admission to discharge, medical prescription to even their previous health history for doctors and caretakers to provide quick service can be accessed via QR Codes.
ii. Drug safety:
QR Codes in healthcare for drug safety can go a long way in tackling drug counterfeit and correct administration of medication to patients. Medicine packages now come with QR Codes on them to be more transparent about the manufacturing process, expiry date, and contents of the drugs.
QR Codes on medicines can also alert caregivers in medication administration. QR Codes for medicine administration can alert caregivers about the exact dosage, timing of the medicine, and procedure of the medication to be given, thereby, saving time and error.
5.Insurance
The insurance industry is also a key user of documents and has to deal with a very large number of transactions. With Qryptal’s technology, there can be an appreciable improvement in checking outright fraud, in recognizing tampered documents as well as in automating the information processing for quicker and seamless settlement of claims.
- Policy Document:
Even in the case of insurance policies, there have been cases where fake policies have been issued by rogue agents on behalf of reputed insurance companies to unaware customers. Although insurance companies usually check against their database for valid policies before paying out any claims, any such incidents can always turn into a reputation risk and sometimes even a liability for the improper conduct of their agents.
- Medical Claims:
Medical claims processing continues to remain paper-intensive especially in the case of out of network providers. It is also subject to duplication of entries due to different systems being used by service providers and the TPAs/insurance companies. To reduce the possibility of tampering with the claim documents and to ensure quicker processing of information, it would be ideal to find a way in which the information can be trusted and easily ingested for processing.
iii. Membership Cards:
Typically, a health insurance customer would be given a membership card by the insurance company to be used for identification at the time of interaction with the service provider. These cards are normally physical cards with a specified validity period and need to be periodically replaced. Moreover, the card itself carries very basic information and the service provider still needs to fill out other necessary details after verification. It would be far more useful to have a card (either physical or electronic) with a QR code containing not only the individual details of the insured along with photosetc for identification but also policy details so that verification and relevant limits/access to services can be determined by a simple scan of the QR code.
6. Banking and Financial Services
Despite the massive shift to online banking, the banking and financial services industry continues to be one of the most document-intensive industries. Millions of financial transactions take place every day which need to be monitored, documented and analyzedregularly.
- Account Statement:
Bank statements may sometimes need to be verified by third parties for loan approvals, proof of net worth and so on. Usually, the onus is on the customer to get the physical statement attested or chopped by the issuing bank for this purpose. However, this is time-consuming and can be annoying for both the customer as well as the issuing bank.
- Cheques:
Cheques need to be verified and cleared as quickly, efficiently and accurately as possible. With most countries adopting the CTS system, the cheque verification and clearing process is carried out through cheque images being sent in by the receiving bank or financial institution.
In recent years, Cheque fraud has become a growing issue of concern in some countries. Advancing digital technology has made it easier for counterfeiters and fraudsters to acquire blank cheque stationery and magnetic ink (MICR) printers and fonts to recreate the cheques that are read by bank scanners.
Watermarking, holographs and other security features may help to deter such fraud, though eventually the fraudsters and counterfeiters would be able to acquire similar technology as well.
iii. Invoices and Bills:
Invoices and Bills continue to be the accepted proof of any purchase or sale transaction in goods and services. Thus these documents are generated and used across businesses and industries for various purposes. It is therefore critical to be able to trust these documents so that they can be processed efficiently.
Invoices and bills are often forged or tampered with to overstate/understate the value of goods, or their description, quality etcto save on taxes, duties and so on. This can distort the real picture and result in direct monetary loss to counterparties and governments. It becomes necessary to tackle this problem by making sure that all invoices and bills are system generated centrally and can be validated by anyone simply to verify the authenticity and check for all the details.
7.Government
Government-issued documents form the basis of establishing the identity of individuals which is the fundamental building block for any subsequent services that the citizen may need to avail. In addition, the government also issues documents such as permits and licenses, taxation related papers which are essential for a business to prove its legitimacy and carry out its activities with minimum friction and maximum effectiveness.
i. Identity Cards:
Fake ID cards are entrails of the acknowledged global problem.
Third parties are increasingly finding it impossible to verify the authenticity of an ID card issued by any organization or department.
For example, you may have a driving license and you wish to present this to a bank to open a bank account. The banker has no easy means to validate the license because the trustworthy data resides within the database of the Transport Agency or similar government department – the authority which issues a driving licence in your respective country. Similar problems occur when you wish to use the driving license for other purposes: renting a car/apartment, applying for a loan/credit/passport etc.
ii. Certificates and Permits:
Governments all over the world issue millions of certificates, permits and licenses every month. These documents typically originate in some computer system and after due process gets handed over to the document holder in either a physical or electronic form.
A few decades back computers, scanners and printers were expensive and it was not easy for the average person to create fake or tampered documents. Now as a side-effect of the widespread proliferation of technology, nearly anyone willing has access to tools to create fake documents. Further, there are many nefarious services just a search away providing even easier access to fake documents.
iii. Immigration & Border Security:
The documents issued by the Immigration department like Visas, Work Permits, Residency Permits, Entry Passes and Passports need to be easily validated by different governments, airlines and other entities.
Today with the onset of globalisation, there is an unprecedented movement of people across borders. At the same time with ease of forgeries, online scams and terrorism – it is necessary for immigration issued documents to be easily verifiable on demand.
Further, for efficiency and convenience, many countries encourage visitors to apply for e-Visa and Electronic Travel Authority (ETA). Unlike traditional Visas which are received from a trusted source (Embassy) – these electronic authorisations are in the form of electronic PDFs which only the issuing authority can validate against their database.
Online fraudsters entice the lay public to “buy” these Visas from their websites.
Neither the airline nor the traveller can validate these e-Visas and when the unsuspecting traveller reaches the borders – they realise that they have been duped and have toreturn at a great loss to all parties including the host country.
Additionally, this is a huge privacy risk as sensitive traveller information gets exposed to unscrupulous operators.
iv. Taxation, Revenue and Customs:
There is a strong incentive for fraudsters to create fake or tampered receipts to fool the public and law enforcement agencies. With today’s software and printers, it is trivial to create these fake receipts – leading to the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue. Apart from revenue leakage, this increases corruption and adds to friction in the economy which even honest taxpayers have to bear.
With income tax documents the problem can get further compounded by banks extending undue credit based on fake or inflated documents.
8.HR & Payroll
The human resources function in any organization is crucial and has to deal with as well as generate several documents which serve different purposes. Educational certificates are just one example of such documents and are input into the human resources function. Other examples include: joining or employment offer letter, discharge or exit letter, experience certificate (which could also include information about the last position held, the number of years worked and in some cases the last salary drawn), regular payslips and so on. Some of these documents serve the purpose of proof when applying for a new job, for a loan, for a visa, the opening of a bank or brokerage account or other similar requirements.
- Mobile Payments
Much as we speak about banking, the most aggressive growth in the use of QR codes has happened in Payment Systems. Possibly due to the scale-up limitations in hardware devices and the slow take-off of NFC, QR Codes have filled the space with the likes of PayTM, Google Pay, Phone Pe or Amazon Pay who help enable phone-based secure payments with a QR code. But all these trails the biggest of them all – Wechat and Alipay which popularised the use of QR codes in payments like never before. In China, since everyone is on either of these platforms, the user just needs to scan the specific QR code at the designated merchant and make the payment from any mobile phone.
10.Statutory Certificates
Testing agencies and organizations can use the QR code to capture the critical components of the information on the certificates that can be scanned and verified by third parties.
If you would like support on creating QR Codes for your business, contact Cyber Gear.