Mobility has become such a ubiqitous expectation from consumers and business users that this category almost defies definition. Suffice to say that anything that is digital these days needs to play nice on any device from laptops, tablets, smart phones, wearables and rugged scanners.
The latter are used to scan or capture transaction data at the point of movement through various stages in a supply chain process - usually this is in or around warehouse or distribution centre operations, but also in many other field settings. Implementations encompass the hardware device layer (typically running Android as the user interface), the communications layer (e.g. via 4G/5G GPRS, 802.11 Wi-Fi or RF signals), and the integration layer with POS, WMS, ERP or other fulfilment or asset tracking systems.
Factors to consider include appropriate ruggedness of equipment versus ease of use, simplicity of application design to mirror physical processes, on- and off-line application behaviour, battery life and software/hardware support processes. Smartphones are these days frequently used as they are convenient and (relatively) cheap so can easily be replaced, rather than investing in ruggedised equipment.
