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Smarter Business Processes is Cyber Certified

Emma Stevens

Office Manager

Emma has 27 years of financial and customer experience and brings processes and order to our office.

Emma's customer service knowledge ensures all of our clients office enquiries are dealt with professionally, efficiently and quickly. She will leave no stone unturned to get to the bottom of a query!

When not at her desk Emma enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter as well running Brownies and Rainbows for Girlguiding UK in her local area.

Etienne Mermillod

Software Development Manager

Etienne is a seasoned ASP.NET Core Full Stack Developer. He takes great pride in building world-class applications while carefully considering the needs of its users and ease of use.

Originally from France, Etienne now calls Canada Home, where he is part of SBP Canada as a member of the API Solutions Development Team.

Etienne is a well-seasoned traveler and has visited many countries where he usually takes the path less traveled in order to backpack around and soak in the local cultures.

When not coding away, you may expect Etienne to be playing with his huge and fluffy dog Indianna or gaming away on League of Legends

David Bower

Smartsheet and AppSheet Consultant

David is an experienced Smartsheet Consultant, Customer Care Specialist and Client Account Manager.

In his spare time, David plays guitar, is learning to ride a motorcycle and, when it’s not too cold, can often be found tinkering in the garage. He also intends to learn to play the piano too - one day

Debbie Sawyer

Chief Smartsheet Solutions Officer (CSSO)

BSc (Hons) Computing, ITIL Foundation, Smartsheet Certified User, Aligned Sales Certified and Professional Services Certified.

Seasoned Smartsheet consultant and Training professional, Debbie’s creativity, attention to detail, willingness to deliver solutions to fully meet customer requirements and her personable manner earn her excellent client feedback.

When not working, Debbie likes to relax by spending quality time with her family. Living in the New Forest sees her taking many walks through the woods and down to the sea fronts at Lepe and Calshot. Debbie is also a keen hula hooper and has been hooping now for more than 7 years! She owns at least 10 hoops and enjoys a great workout helping her friend to run a hula hoop fitness class.

Dr James Harris

Chief Technology Officer

An experienced IT professional, James has worked for software companies as a Programmer and Test Analyst. He also has extensive experience as a Finance Manager. James brings an attention to detail and flair for problem solving to every project.

Outside of work, James writes comedy, and has had many television credits over the past couple of decades on shows such as Horrible Histories and Russell Howard's Good News. He retains a burning ambition to be as funny as his wife and daughter.

Ph.D. Biochemical Physics, IT and Accounting professional.

Gwen Rymill

Communications Director

Co-founder of Smarter Business Processes, Gwen’s multi tasking roles include ensuring our clients receive the very best in customer care, while responsible for sales and marketing and partner liaison. Just don’t expect to get the cup of tea she promised you!

Away from work Gwen enjoys cycling, pilates, tap dancing and just loves baking.

Richard Rymill

CEO

Co-Founder and Lead Consultant, Richard set up SBP in response to worldwide demand from businesses wanting to implement their own Smarter Business Processes. His rapidly expanding team of experienced Smartsheet and AppSheet Consultants and Trainers share the company's values of achieving improved efficiencies and collaboration by putting people first and releasing them from unnecessary repetitive activities so they can enjoy their work again and focus on what matters to them.

When not at his desk, Richard can be found cycling, swimming and when the opportunity permits, sailing and flying.

On the up: The Rise and Rise of QR Codes

We had to adapt to a lot of unwelcome changes during the Covid-19 pandemic. While face masks, social distancing and handwashing became part of our daily routine, 2020 did at least bring good news for one innovation. The humble QR code. At Smarter Business Processes we have helped a wide range of clients create apps to leverage this practical and efficient technology.

When it was first introduced in 2010, the Quick Response code didn’t make much of an impact. While slick, easy data gathering might have been be appealing, not enough of us had the Smartphone technology to make it work. For those of us who did give QR a try, it required downloading a third party app, by which time you could have just found the link online.   

Today QR code creation is common place and every day practice in most businesses and communities.

What did QR stand for?

qr

A quick-response code is a type of two-dimensional matrix barcode, invented in 1994, by Japanese company Denso Wave originally for labelling automobile parts. 

What is a QR code?

A barcode is a machine-readable optical image that contains information specific to the labelled item. In practice, Quick Response codes contain data for a locator, an identifier, and a website visitor tracking. To efficiently store data, QR codes use four standardized modes of encoding (i) numeric, (ii) alphanumeric, (iii) byte or binary, and (iv) kanji.

Creating a QR code

A Quick Response code consists of black squares arranged in a square grid on a white background, including some fiducial markers, which can be read by an imaging device such as a camera, and processed using Reed–Solomon error correction until the image can be appropriately interpreted.

The required data is then extracted from patterns that are present in both horizontal and vertical components of the image.

qr

The spread of the QR code applications

The QR labelling system was applied beyond the automobile industry due to its fast readability and greater storage capacity compared to standard UPC barcodes. Creating QR codes was easy. Applications include product tracking, item identification, time tracking, document management, and general marketing

qr
The QR code was adopted across society during the Covid-19 pandemic

QR Codes in the time of Covid-19

During the Covid-19 pandemic, however, these codes came into regular use and in fact became a reliable source of data.

While the Track and Trace app has by no means had a smooth, controversy-free implementation (Excel Spreadsheet columns anyone?) it demonstrates the versatility of this type of code. With every shop and cafe asking us to point and click we’re really starting to see just how accessible it can be.

QR Use Cases

Today QR codes have become common in all areas of commerce and society, from consumer advertising, tracking in product stock taking, to supply chain management.

Typically, a smartphone is used as a QR code scanner, displaying the code and converting it to some useful form (such as a standard URL for a website, thereby obviating the need for a user to type it into a web browser).

QR code has become a focus of advertising strategy, since it provides a way to access a brand’s website more quickly than by manually entering a URL.  Not only is it super convenient to the consumer, the importance of this capability also increases the conversion rate and the chance that contact with the advertisement converts to a sale.

It’s all in the App

Now everything is automated. Instead of taking you to a third party website, the app collects all the information it needs in one simple step, and lets you go back to sanitising your cat or doing whatever it was you were doing before you had to zap the code with your mobile phone. So easy! 

This tech hasn’t just become slicker either. It can now be implemented at a fraction of what it used to cost. This makes it a total game changer, especially for anyone who needs to report progress or gather data while out on site. Find out how QR codes can drive efficiency in your business in our Appsheet with Smartsheet blog, or watch a quick demo below on how we can make it work for you.

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