Business Cards

1 March 2011 - Industries may change and brand names may come and go, but at least one tradition in the business world has remained largely unchanged for hundreds of years. The exchange of cards between two people who are meeting for the first time is a ritual that goes back as far as business itself. For most of us, the handing over of contact details is an important moment - a clear signal that a connection has been made. But as our lives turn increasingly digital, technology is attempting to provide a range of futuristic alternatives to the old-fashioned card. Ever since the arrival of electronic communication, people have been exploring new ways to share information with each other- from swapping email addresses to trading mobile phone numbers and, increasingly, connecting through an online social network. A range of services have appeared to take advantage of this trend, including Bump Technologies, a two-year-old startup based in California's Silicon Valley. Its application, which users download to their phones, lets people trade contact details simply by tapping their handsets together. It is an approach that has a number of advantages over the traditional paper card, says Bump's Sadie Bascom - particularly since nobody goes anywhere without their mobile these days.
"It's easy, always on your phone, and you never have to remember to grab a stack of physical cards or worry about them running out."