Exchanging business cards is as close as the common custom you can find in the corporate world (Photo: Sansan)

A business card is an extension of yourself, even if you are an investment banker on Wall Street, killing people like crazy in your spare time. Of course, we are referring to a novel-the black comedy horror satire "American Psychiatric", in which Christian Bell plays the gentle solipsist Patrick Bateman.

"That's bones," he described the colors of his newly printed cards, while trying to impress his colleagues who are rich in material but culturally bankrupt. "And the font is something called Silian Rail."

This scene is very iconic, because when other men brought out the same fancy man, Bateman, who was obsessed with status, immediately fell down. When they showed off the expensive but basically indistinguishable cards they made, this evolved into a showdown for the male ego. Although most people consider this pop culture moment to be a thorough display of absurd male competition, printing presses around the world see it as an exciting time that has inspired more creative methods of their craftsmanship. In the end, a humble business card can reveal a lot of information about yourself, more than you think.

The cornerstone of this business stationery, we stuffed it in our pockets, almost regardless of its face value, it has existed for a long time in one way or another. Calling cards were invented in China in the 15th century and used to announce upcoming guests. British merchants used them as micro-advertising in the 17th century. In today's Japan, the ritual of exchanging cards called "meishi-koukan" (meishi-koukan) is as strict as the tea ceremony. Not only is it a polite gesture, it must be done before any formal discussion.

Exchanging business cards is as close as the common custom you can find in the corporate world. But now, as more people exchange social media handles instead of shaking hands, is this long-standing business etiquette really out of date?

As we move to the world of digital goods and virtual interfaces, the DNA of tactile business cards is rapidly disintegrating. Augmented reality (AR) labels are printed on the card so that 3D objects will appear when viewed with the app—whether it is the face of an employee or the product being promoted. In China, the practice of changing cards is almost obsolete, because business people can now scan each other’s QR codes and point a QR code to their personal data in their WeChat app, which can also be used to book hotels and transfer money. The professional social networking service LinkedIn makes it easier to use Bluetooth to share contacts in person, while newer websites such as HiHello and Contxts allow users to create virtual business cards.

There are as many open doors as there are closed doors in the pandemic. Team meetings and industry meetings can be held at any time around the world, but face-to-face communication has been reduced to social communication on the screen. The background is our dream vacation. As white-collar workers fled to their home offices, global printing companies are suffering setbacks-Dutch e-commerce Vistaprint admits that its sales have plummeted by 70% earlier this year and have not fully recovered. The post-pandemic situation does not seem to be optimistic. Is it safe to issue cards to potential customers? How do we disinfect them? What would a polite Japanese think?

Contrary to tradition, “it’s time to change people’s minds,” said Edward Senju, regional chief executive officer of Sansan Global Pte Ltd. His parents were Japanese but grew up in Mexico. The unicorn technology start-up Sansan (whose name is derived from the respectable Japanese Mr. or Ms.) creates a broader digital infrastructure to take advantage of the company's connections. Sansan was founded by Chikahiro Terada and designed a hybrid system that can digitize physical business cards using scanners or mobile apps. Your contact data will be safely uploaded to the cloud database and become a permanent resource that can be shared internally with colleagues. In addition to capturing basic contact information that can be integrated with more online platforms (such as Microsoft Teams and Google Calendar), the Sansan app also records contact hobbies and even preferences, which can be used to strengthen future relationships.

Although in this era of social alienation, customers no longer get physical business cards that can be scanned and added to the system, Sansan has adjusted and launched a virtual version in the middle of last year. More than 4,300 companies have subscribed to its QR code-based system, which can be conveniently placed next to your face during a video call. Your recipient simply scans the code on the screen to display the detailed information.

Gen Z is already helping top management complete more transactions than expected potential customers. Popl, a Los Angeles-based startup conceived before the pandemic, has been using Tik Tok users to promote its modern business card alternatives. The Popl device is not a scanner, but a hardware tag that supports Near Field Communication (NFC). It is affixed to your phone and can be used for seamless contact sharing like Apple Pay or AirDrop. According to co-founder and CEO Jason Alvarez-Cohen, who is a graduate of UCLA with a background in computer science, Popl’s digital business card technology has sold more than 700,000 units and generated $2.7 million in sales.

Like Popl, there are more inventors who think they have a solution to change the traditional business card model. TouchBase Technologies uses "conductive ink" to make paper cards, tapping on the device to store other people's information, using current touch screen technology while maintaining the actual card. There are other affordable wireless exchange applications that don’t require you to buy a mobile phone that can read NFC tags, such as the scanning function in Evernote (unlimited scanning costs $45 per year) and CamCard (a limited number of scans are provided for free), but in addition to Beyond recording your professional experience, they don't fully provide customer insights or functionality.

Although the digital revolution heralds the emergence of paperless offices, rotating card files-most notably the leading brand Rolodex-is a trophy case that showcases a person's connectivity and the scale of a business network for the world to see arrive. If Steve Carell’s screen role in the office, Michael Scott, taught us anything, it’s that physical business cards have logistical advantages because it’s easier to press paper on the palm of your hand because not everyone is equipped with the same Trendy apps, these apps always send emails on the spot to share their details.

Technology has reimagined the (spinning) wheel by connecting analog and digital, but innovation in the new era usually requires a high price. Even if you can't afford luxury stationery (again, the color is not white, but "bones"), providing a physical card with both hands is a free strategy that will still leave a lasting first impression.

This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia on November 1, 2021.

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