What Are Online Business Cards? Explaining the Benefits and Considerations of Digitization!

Capabilities of Digital Business Cards

Exchange Business Cards During Web Meetings and Online Negotiations

With remote work becoming standard, many companies are increasingly conducting internal meetings and client negotiations online. By implementing digital business cards, you can seamlessly exchange contact information during web meetings and online negotiations.

Attach Digital Business Cards to Email Signatures

Since digital business cards are accessible via URLs or QR codes, they can be easily included in email signatures. This allows you to share your contact information effortlessly, not only when sending emails for new business development but also with clients you may not meet through web meetings or online negotiations.

Include Multimedia Elements Such as Photos and Videos

While paper business cards have limited space for corporate information, digital business cards can incorporate data such as photos and videos. By including product or service videos, you can convey extensive corporate information in an easy-to-understand format. Additionally, you can easily add links to your corporate website and social media, serving as an effective tool to drive traffic to these platforms. You can also utilize various designs and photos to help employees express their professional identity.

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Latest Trends in Business Card Digitization

According to a survey on "Usage Status of Business Card Management Tools" by Keyman's Net, conducted between July 13 and July 26, 2022, the current state of business card management in companies is as follows:

◯ Physically managed by individuals using business card folders (1st place, 49.5%)
◯ Managed using company-implemented business card management tools (2nd place, 25.9%)
◯ Individually managed using smartphone apps (3rd place, 16.5%)

Compared to the October 2020 survey, the percentage of "physically managed by individuals" has decreased by 8.7 points. However, it is clear that digital business card management has not yet fully permeated the market, and offline management remains deeply rooted.

Benefits of Digitizing Business Cards

Subtly Share Company Promotional Information

Paper catalogs and brochures can only be distributed through in-person handovers or mail. With digital business cards, you can share not only PDFs and static photos but also videos that explain your products clearly. By consistently attaching your digital business card to your email signature, you can enhance your company's credibility.

Serve as a Communication Tool with Existing Clients

Digital business cards can serve as a conversation starter during online negotiations or visits to existing clients. By including links to social media or showcasing photos, you can facilitate better communication with your counterparts.

Facilitate Icebreaking in Online Negotiations

Icebreaking refers to topics or themes intended to ease tension and build rapport. In online negotiations, where information and topics are often more limited compared to in-person meetings, it can be difficult to engage in small talk before the main agenda or to introduce oneself effectively. With a digital business card, you can use information such as office location or social media links to bring up local topics, helping to ease the atmosphere.

Share Information Beyond Meeting Participants

By using a business card management system that integrates with CRM and SFA, you can smoothly share information obtained during online negotiations across your organization. Recently, there has been a growing focus on "knowledge sharing" as a means to improve operational efficiency and eliminate reliance on specific individuals. To achieve effective knowledge sharing, data-driven management is essential rather than paper-based information. By digitizing customer information and negotiation details, you can accumulate them within the company and ensure they are readily available, thereby realizing effective knowledge sharing. This promotes team-based data analysis and eliminates individual dependency, ultimately leading to increased corporate revenue.

Avoid Overlapping Sales Approaches

There are often issues where sales representatives inadvertently approach a client that another colleague is already handling. By sharing digitized business card information internally, you can verify visit status and negotiation history in advance, helping to prevent overlapping sales efforts.

Points to Consider When Introducing Online Business Cards

Data Accuracy

When introducing online business cards, there are various types of systems, some of which require manual data entry. Manual data registration is not only time-consuming but also carries the risk of input errors and duplicate entries. Input errors during registration can significantly impact corporate credibility, while duplicate entries create unnecessary administrative burdens. It is essential to implement a high-precision system that can instantly digitize data, allowing for the rapid and accurate management and utilization of business information.

Managing Paper-Based Business Cards Digitally

It is advisable to introduce an online business card system that also allows you to utilize paper-based business cards received in person. We recommend adopting a business card management system that enables you to import paper-based cards and integrate them with information exchanged via online business cards. This facilitates smoother information management and business card searching, which contributes to improved operational efficiency.

Selecting a System That Integrates with CRM and SFA

When introducing a system that utilizes online business cards, it is also important to ensure that it can integrate with CRM and SFA to drive efficient sales activities. Systems with limited functionality or data capacity hinder the sharing of data-driven expertise, making it difficult to advance an organized, team-based approach.

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mSonar: A Corporate Information & Business Card Management App That Integrates Customer Data for Both Online and Offline Interactions

Fast and Accurate Business Card Import

mSonar instantly digitizes business cards when captured via camera or scanner. Since you can also register photos saved in advance, you can digitize business cards without stress, even during sudden online business meetings or web conferences.

With a business card deduplication feature, there is no need to worry about duplicate imports. Corporate information is also updated automatically, ensuring that your sales activities are always based on the latest data. Additionally, you can register up to six business cards at once, making the digitization process highly efficient.

Identifying Prospective Companies Without Prior Business Card Exchange

By leveraging one of Japan's largest corporate databases, mSonar allows you to search for prospective companies with whom you have not yet exchanged business cards.
You can also view pathways to key decision-makers in an easy-to-understand format, which helps accelerate your sales activities. Furthermore, you can manage not only the information of contacts you have personally exchanged cards with but also information on business card exchanges between companies.

Integration with CRM and SFA

mSonar enables efficient business card management through integration with MA and SFA tools. By centralizing business card management in a single tool, you can access accurate information quickly. By sharing transaction status and meeting information openly and smoothly, you can promote the sharing of data-driven expertise and never miss a business opportunity. This allows you to develop effective strategies that meet customer needs.

• Corporate Information & Business Card Management App mSonar

Customer Success Stories: Achieving Results Through Business Card Digitization with mSonar

mSonar (formerly Meishi Sonar) enables the maximization of sales results by leveraging business card information.

Case Study: JTB Corp.

Challenges Before Implementing mSonar

• Customer information was managed individually by each sales department and representative.
• There were challenges regarding the productivity of corporate sales activities.

Reasons for Implementation

• Easy business card import and the ability to link valuable corporate attribute information.
• The richness of industry and corporate information, and the ability to understand connections between corporate groups and business locations starting from business card information.

Results of Implementation

- Monthly business card registrations increased dramatically from approximately 3,000 to 7,000.

For more details on this case study, please click here.

Summary: Online Business Cards Are Tools That Accelerate Business

By utilizing online business cards, you can engage in networking on a much broader scale than with traditional paper-based business cards. By leveraging the valuable corporate information obtained through this process as data, teams can share expertise, which leads to improved corporate productivity. Digitizing information streamlines communication with customers and enhances business efficiency. Let us aim to accelerate and scale corporate growth through the use of online business cards.