Will technology diminish business cards?

We are tech crazy; there is no doubt about it. So, it is quite surprising that business cards still exist in their current status. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad that they do, in fact I think exchanging business cards plays an important role in meetings. All the same, I do find it strange that they are still in existence.

Curiosity got the better of me, so after a quick search I came across an article which appeared in Mashable ‘Is It Time to Finally Ditch Your Paper Business Cards’ which highlights that there are in fact many technical alternatives to business cards.

The reason why none of these have taken off is because there are too many alternatives which mainly come in the form of apps and can only work if both parties exchanging cards have the same app. Other problems which have prevented these from eliminating the traditional business cards are the assumption that everyone in business has a smart phone and that all business meetings are held in places which have a strong internet connection.

While some people think it easier to take a photograph of the business cards you receive and store them on your phone – you still need a business card for this process and could end up with a lot of photographs to search through to find a contact.

If you are like me, after every business trip I go on, I come home with dozens of business cards which is great in one sense but it is time consuming to then sort through them and connects with these people on the various social media sites.

In November, LinkedIn announced a new app which anyone with a smart phone can use. Although a traditional business card is required for the process, it speeds up the integration of this with the social media platform. CardMunch, is a free app which enables you take a picture of the business card and once submitted will bring up the LinkedIn page of this person.

At the moment it is reported that 10 billion business cards are printed annually, so for now, it seems like they are going nowhere and that CardMunch is the way forward. And if I am honest, I am quite happy with this solution. It is an impressive yet simplistic tool which merges old and new business traditions.

The question is – do you agree, or do you want the business card to be gone?

Read more:

Mashable Business, Is It Time to Finally Ditch Your Paper Business Cards, January 2012

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