Why New Software Often Creates Labeling Challenges

Organizations invest hundreds of hours planning and implementing new ERP, WMS, EHR, laboratory, and inventory systems. Most of the project's budget, staffing, and attention are understandably focused on the software itself. IT teams work through data migration, integrations, security, user acceptance testing, training, and deployment while operational departments prepare for new workflows.

Yet one critical component often receives far less attention — the labels the new system produces. Labeling is hardware-dependent in a software-focused project.

Plus, labeling spans multiple departments beyond just IT. For ERP and WMS systems:

• IT owns the software/interface
• Quality owns the compliance content
• Warehouse owns the operational execution
• Supply chain owns the external-facing requirements
• Facilities owns the hardware

This challenge is even more significant for health systems implementing EHR systems:

• IT owns the software/interface
• Compliance/Risk Management/Regulatory/Accreditation Affairs own the compliance content
• Pharmacy, lab, nursing and blood bank have direct labeling responsibility
• Supply Chain owns vendor selection, general hospital inventory and chargebacks
• Biomed/Clinical Engineering owns the hardware

Because nobody actually "owns" the labeling process end-to-end by default, it can fall into a gap between workstreams.

Labeling is an unglamorous, easy-to-underestimate area that can cause real problems if it's not handled deliberately.

Legacy Labels Were Built for Older Workflows

Just as legacy software gets updated to reflect operational needs, labeling practices evolve alongside it. New fields get added, formats get adjusted, printers get replaced, one department at a time, over years.

A major system upgrade breaks that gradual pattern. It replaces the platform all at once, but the labels themselves are rarely rebuilt with the same rigor. Organizations end up running old label logic on new infrastructure, and labels stop performing the way they used to.

This can result in a number of challenges, including:

• Legacy naming conventions that conflict with standardized master data
• Templates that omit newly required information
• Older barcode sizes that perform poorly with new scanners
• Labels designed around manual processes instead of automated, system driven workflows
• Print logic and routing rules that don't map cleanly onto the new system's data model

Often, this disconnect isn't discovered in testing. Instead it surfaces once employees begin scanning products, patients, specimens, inventory, or locations during daily operations, when the volume and variability of real-world use exposes gaps that weren't exposed in a testing environment.

Software Is Standardized But Labels Often Are Not

One of the primary goals of enterprise software is standardization.

Organizations invest in ERP, WMS, EHR, and inventory platforms so every facility follows the same processes, shares the same data, and operates from a single source of truth.

Labels rarely get that memo.

That's because when labels are built locally, it's one facility at a time, by whoever solved that facility's immediate problem first. It might be a supervisor working around a slow scanner, a nurse securing a failing medication label with clear tape, or a warehouse lead who picked a printer model based on what was in stock. Each fix made sense in isolation. None of them were coordinated across the organization.

At scale, those one-off fixes manifest and look like this:

• Warehouse location formats that vary facility to facility
• Department names that don't match across sites
• Color-coding systems with no shared logic
• Barcode layouts and symbologies that vary by location
• Printer templates built independently, often by different vendors
• Label sizes that differ for the exact same application

Although each location developed its own workaround, these inconsistencies complicate efforts to standardize operations across multiple facilities.

A platform can standardize workflows, data, and reporting, but if the labels feeding it are still speaking different dialects, the system inherits that inconsistency instead of resolving it.

Modern Systems Depend On Data Capture

That inconsistency doesn't stay theoretical for long, it shows up the moment someone tries to scan a barcode.

Data is the raw material that companies need to operate their business effectively. Barcoding is what lets a physical action, a scan, become a digital fact the system can act on. Every barcode scan updates inventory, validates shipping information, records production activity, confirms patient identification, tracks specimens, and more.

When labels fail, employees compensate by:

• Entering data manually
• Reprinting labels
• Creating handwritten workarounds
• Correcting inventory discrepancies later
• Interrupting workflows to troubleshoot failures

Each workaround might seem minor in isolation. But barcoding exists specifically to remove manual entry, the error source it was designed to eliminate. Every workaround reopens that door.

Reliable barcode performance is the mechanism that makes every other investment in standardization and data integrity actually work, not just a hardware detail.

Labeling Considerations During System Upgrades

Organizations devote months planning software implementations, but labeling often receives attention only after problems appear.

Including labels in the implementation plan helps reduce disruption and improves adoption from day one.

Review Barcode Standards Early

Every new platform has specific barcode requirements.

Before implementation, organizations should verify:

• Required barcode symbologies
• Minimum barcode dimensions
• Quiet zone requirements
• Required data formats
• Scanner compatibility
• Print resolution requirements

Testing production labels with the same hardware employees will use after go-live helps identify problems before they affect operations.

Standardize Labels Across the Organization

Technology projects create an excellent opportunity to simplify years of accumulated variation.

Consider standardizing:

• Warehouse location labels
• Inventory identification labels
• Department naming conventions
• Asset labels
• Product identification labels
• Shipping labels
• Patient and specimen identification workflows

Standardization improves training, simplifies troubleshooting, and allows employees to work consistently across multiple facilities.

Evaluate Label Materials and Printing

Even perfectly designed barcodes fail if the label itself cannot survive its environment.

During implementation, organizations should confirm:

• Labels remain readable throughout their expected lifespan
• Adhesives perform on required surfaces
• Materials withstand moisture, chemicals, refrigeration, abrasion, or outdoor exposure when necessary
• Existing printers support the required label stock
• Print quality consistently meets scanner requirements

Replacing software while continuing to use poor-quality labels limits the overall success of the modernization effort.

Beyond ERP Projects

ERP implementations often trigger labeling challenges, but many other modernization initiatives can cause similar issues.

Healthcare Technology Initiatives

The VHA is in the middle of a $37 billion transition to Oracle Health's EHR system. Although few health systems require an implementation of that magnitude, EHR implementations are among the largest investments they ever make.

Whether it's a new EHR, laboratory or pharmacy information system, an asset management platform, or an upgrade to an existing system, labeling is an essential element that can't be overlooked.

New systems frequently require updates to:

• Patient identification labels
• Specimen labels
• Medication labels
• Asset tracking labels
• Laboratory workflow labels

Consistent, durable labels help maintain patient safety while supporting successful technology adoption across departments.

Warehouse Modernization

Warehouse automation depends on consistent location identification and reliable barcode scanning.

Modern labeling supports:

• Automated picking
• Put-away workflows
• Inventory accuracy
• Cycle counting
• Warehouse location management
• Shipping verification

Manufacturing and Distribution

Manufacturers and distributors depend on barcode accuracy throughout production and logistics.

Standardized labels support:

• Production tracking
• Work-in-process identification
• Inventory management
• Shipping verification
• Receiving accuracy
• Product traceability

Custom Internal Applications

Many organizations now build internal applications using low-code platforms, no-code development tools, and AI-assisted software development.

These solutions often introduce entirely new workflows, barcode fields, and identification requirements.

Unfortunately, the existing labeling program frequently remains unchanged.

Reviewing barcode standards, templates, and naming conventions alongside custom application development helps ensure these new tools scale successfully as operations continue to evolve.