Cracking the code
Jeff Platt estimates he has scanned hundreds of “quick-response” codes the past few years, as much out of curiosity as to see how companies are adopting QR codes.
Scan one, he thinks, and your business will adopt them too.
Platt”™s employer, Pitney Bowes Inc., is doing its best to promote the next generation of barcodes that, scanned into smartphones, unlock mobile sites for information and offers on anything a business wishes to market.
Stamford-based Pitney Bowes Inc.”™s pbSmartCodes software runs the backend engine needed for businesses to create QR codes and embed them on websites, signs, documents or other materials.
On the front end, it takes a business only a few minutes to create a QR code campaign and accompanying web page formatted for mobile devices, according to Jeff Platt, Pitney Bowes director of product marketing for small and mid-size businesses.
“It”™s a page we help you design very easily, you can design on the fly and then we”™ll give you the backend analytics,” Platt said. “The idea is to get you to that page.”
A small business such as a retail store, real estate agency, or restaurant contemplating a full-bore QR campaign could do it for a subscription of around $75 monthly, Platt said, and Pitney Bowes will arrange for any print jobs using QR codes as well.
For now, it is doing all that for the Stamford Symphony ”“ and more, with Pitney Bowes CEO Murray Martin scheduled at deadline to announce the new service at a symphony performance in mid-November. Among other features, the symphony”™s QR codes allow for ticket purchases and video interviews with Maestro Eckart Preu.
“Our intention is to design offers and provide insights to enhance the Stamford Symphony experience and, ultimately, appeal to the younger audience in the community,” symphony CEO Barbara Soroca said in a statement. “We jumped at the opportunity to work with Pitney Bowes, to tap into their area of expertise, and explore the most effective ways of using QR codes to draw new people in to the wonders of classical music.”
QR codes are finding harmony with other organizations as well, as it turns out. The Stamford Chamber of Commerce now features a QR code on its home page. At this past summer”™s Connecticut Business Expo in Hartford, exhibitors were encouraged to create QR codes for their booths. And Platt surmises QR codes could come into heavy use in next year”™s elections.
While instances have already been cited of malicious software bugs being embedded in QR codes, there”™s an app for that ”“ Norton, Symantec and other security software vendors have created apps to combat the problem.
For Platt, the hardest part of his job is making people aware of what they can accomplish with those black blotches popping up in ads, signs and web pages.
“This is new,” he said. “We think it”™s the sleeping giant.”