The QR or “Quick Response” code has become an integral part of our daily interactions today. 

Whether you need to view a restaurant menu, send a payment to someone, or connect to Wi-Fi, this code provides a quick and easy way to do so. 

In this blog post, we’ll share the history of the QR code, the value and innovation in how this technology is used, and the specific facilities management use cases that drive time and cost savings as well as improve data capture and usability. Once your facilities management team prioritizes using QR codes, you will have smoother operations, improved feedback, and improved real-time data to drive better occupant and facilities team experiences.

Creation of the QR Code

The QR code was invented in 1994 by an employee at Denso Wave – a Japanese automotive company. His name was Masahiro Hara and his work involved scanning a large number of barcodes to track information. This was a struggle for him, as it slowed production greatly and impacted the quality of his work. He realized that he could come up with a solution as he was playing a board game called “Go,” consisting of a grid with small black and white stones. In seeing this, Hara realized that information could be stored very innovatively – if such a complex grid system could provide a simple code, maybe it was possible for information to be consolidated in a simpler way. 

The adoption of QR codes has since continued to expand over the years. In retail, they offer a seamless checkout experience, enabling customers to complete a payment in no time. In the healthcare industry, QR codes make it easy for patients to input information easily on required pre-visit forms. Restaurant settings are just another example of this – this solution initially helped to maintain social distancing has now continued to be adopted because of its sanitary and cost-saving benefits. 

Improved Indoor Location Data and Streamlined Processes 

While many QR codes are used to just point users to specific URLs or digital documents, there has been innovation to begin using this ubiquitous scanning tool to capture deeper data with a simple scan. Through patented frameworks and technology, QR codes can act as a bridge between the physical and digital world, enabling a simple scanning process to drive rich real-time data in your facilities operations. 

The two areas of biggest innovation in leveraging QR codes are: 1) as a digital hub for Indoor Positioning, 2) as a unique identifier for asset tracking.

Indoor Positioning with QR Codes

Location is the lifeblood for any facilities team. Knowing what the issue is, exactly where it’s location and when it happened, can help teams be more efficient with their time while ensuring better resolution of issues. The problem is indoor location is incredibly difficult to capture accurately at scale often relying on inaccurate methods of self selection or open text.

QR codes provide a practical solution for hard-coding location-specific data within your facility, such as the 2nd floor men’s bathroom in the east wing. Occupants and staff can simply scan the QR code with their mobile phone, log the work they’ve completed, and even add a photo. While this process is straightforward, the real value lies in the rich metadata captured—details like who completed the task, where and when it was done, and what specific activity took place. When combined with maintenance standards for that location, this data offers deep insights into your daily operations, making it easier for your team to maintain accuracy and improve efficiency.

Asset Tracking

While barcodes and other tagging methods have been around for awhile, QR codes are offering easy to use ways to track assets but most importantly the work done with those assets. From inspections to maintenance, QR codes offer a simple solution (that is already pre-built in a standard mobile device) to kick off any activity related to a specific asset in your facility and can act as a unique identifier for your team as they enter data in the field.

4 Valuable QR Code Use Cases for Facilities Leaders

Using QR codes as unique location identifiers can greatly enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs, and improve real-time data capture. This technology fosters collaboration between occupants and facilities teams. Here’s how:

Most interestingly, this enables both occupants and facilities teams to work together easily. Let’s take a look at the impacts of these two distinct groups and the impact of a QR-driven approach.

Providing Occupants with a Comfortable Responsive Experience

For occupants of your space, they want to feel comfortable but ultimately have a voice in their environments. QR codes can help here in two main ways:

Work Order Submission: Let's face it—no one enjoys filling out work orders manually. Forms and portals can be cumbersome and once submitted, it often is a black hole to understand if it’s being worked on. QR codes can make this process easier while adding valuable data for the facilities team.. 

By placing QR codes at key locations within your facility, occupants can easily submit a work order by scanning the code. The mobile app captures the precise location, details of the issue, and allows for photos and notes, automatically routing the information to the relevant team. Best of all, these solutions enable two-way communication, allowing teams to ask follow-up questions and keep the occupant informed of the work's progress. Surveys can also be added to completed work orders, helping you measure satisfaction across different locations and issue types.

Collecting Real-Time Feedback: Getting honest feedback from people in the building is key to keeping everything running smoothly. By putting QR codes in common areas like restrooms or break rooms, you make it easy for folks to share their thoughts on cleanliness and maintenance. Adding in location to where and the rating of this feedback can give your team a heat map of where satisfaction is with regards to specific areas of the buildings or locations to identify improvements

Enabling Your Front Line Teams with the Data They Need to Be Successful

While occupant experience is important, your front line teams and their performance are integral to ensuring safe and productive environments. QR codes can help to make it easy to report their work activity on a daily basis to help with training and recognition of performance.

Work Order Resolution: Just as QR codes help occupants to submit work orders with ease, they help facilities teams gauge work order resolution. From a simple scan, managers have access to metadata– the location of the request, the time it was submitted at, and how quickly the work order was resolved.  There is no ambiguity, no guesswork, and no delay on what the work order requires (i.e. tools, parts, team members, outside vendors, etc.) helping managers assign to the right team members while ensuring front line workers have the information to resolve the work order quickly.

Task Validation for Cleaning: Because QR codes are unique identifiers of location, they also help with task validation. This is incredibly important for daily facilities activities such as cleaning operations. QR codes make it easy for cleaning team members to validate the cleaning activities they complete at each location. For each room completed in their rounds, taking a few seconds to scan a QR code can provide real-time data of cleaning status across your real estate portfolio. Best of yet, this can provide important data around team performance that help to protect your cleaners in the event of messes after they clean a space and for recognition or promotion efforts to reward top performers.

Implementing QR Codes in your Facilities Operations

The QR code is a pivotal tool for effortless communication that can especially be utilized in facilities management and the means to better data that you can base strategic decisions that drive value. Its versatility and ability to connect the physical and digital worlds together makes it an invaluable asset to teams that want to revolutionize their technology. With mobile-first solutions like CrowdComfort, you can easily implement QR codes into your approach to modernize your team’s operations.