If you’ve seen those square patterned black and white boxes on websites, business cards, adverts and even on your TV screen and wondered what they are – here’s the answer!

QR Tag with Contact Details

These are known as quick recognition (QR) codes – and can be scanned in a similar way to a bar code.  The big difference is that you don’t need a special scanner, they work by using your smart phone to scan them.

So what does a QR codes actually do when you scan it?

• It can be a hyperlink that takes you to a website – for example we have a smart code in the reception area of our office building on the business start up ads, that takes people to the business start up page on our website.
• It can be the equivalent of a business card, providing you with name, address, phone, email and even a picture of the person, saving you from typing all the information into your contacts.
• If you make a booking for an event you can scan the QR code to put that into your diary.  Also the QR code could also act as your entry ticket, so no paper ticket needs to be issued – or remembered when you leave home!
• A QR code might give you the recipe for the dish your favourite TV chef is cooking.
• Eventually you’ll be able to buy things using a QR code – scan an item’s bar code and it will launch your bank account, log in, choose which account you want to pay from and the money is instantly transferred to the merchant.

You can put a QR code on anything – on a Tshirt (with your web address on it), on your name badge when you’re networking (to download your contact info, so you don’t need to hand out business cards).