Proudly sporting thick glasses and calling themselves "supply chain geeks," representatives from Barcoding Inc. were talking up their new analytics tools at the biennial ProMat trade show. The only thing missing was the pocket protectors.

The new analytics tools are made possible through a strategic alliance with B2M Solutions, a software company that provides analytics for mobile devices. The solutions can provide information about how well the device is working, battery utilization and utilization rates.

The last point can be crucial, according to president Shane Snyder. Snyder says he has seen many instances where companies invest $500,000 in vehicle-mounted devices and mobile computers, only to find that they have an adoption rate of only 60 percent. In some cases, it's the platform that's not performing well, while in other cases, employees persist in performing their job the old way.

In addition to solutions that analyze the performance of the device itself, Barcoding Inc. is also beginning to roll out labor analytics that will allow companies to measure employee performance against engineered labor standards.