Paperless future: smart digital business cards can transform networking

Gone are the days when business networking relied solely on paper-based exchanges and handshakes. The digital rebirth of the business card is reflective of the significant transformation that is changing the dynamics of business networking today.

In the digital age, smart digital business cards not only fulfill their core purpose of facilitating networking, they also push boundaries by streamlining HR, sales, and recruitment processes and simplify event ROI tracking. Plus, facilitate seamless storage of lead data in the CRM, enhancing data quality and boosting follow up opportunities.

In short, when Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital business cards come together, this smart phenomenon takes away the inaccuracies and inefficiencies that riddle traditional methods of networking. The capabilities of smart business cards hold immense potential, especially for small businesses.

Lead generation and customer relationship management (CRM)

No encounters are really casual when you are building a business. Leads could come in from anywhere at any time, you just have to be ready. The last thing you want to worry about is how you can turn a serendipitous interaction with someone into a valuable lead.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is an indispensable element for all businesses, regardless of size and industry. Especially for small businesses, it’s the cornerstone of growing and maintaining strong customer relationships, streamlining sales and marketing, and analyzing valuable data.

What can smart business cards do when it comes to CRM?

With Artificial Intelligence-powered solutions available today, it is possible to effortlessly generate and manage leads by automating lead information directly into your CRM with a simple tap of the smart business card. By utilizing AI algorithms to streamline lead management and facilitate efficient follow-ups, small businesses can unlock the true potential of networking and grow their brand presence. There are many different ways businesses can benefit from this type of integration. For example, automating team messages and/or scheduling meetings, emails and SMS in a personalized manner – cutting back time spent on manual follow ups.

While traditional networking methods often involve time-consuming tasks that demand a disproportionate amount of attention, AI-powered networking solutions alleviate this challenge by automating many of these tasks and ultimately optimizing lead generation. These solutions result in better data, more follow-ups, and higher close rates.

Particularly when business runners operate in smaller teams, it’s crucial that their energy and effort is channeled to those avenues that will bring them the most lucrative rewards. When we let smart business cards do their thing, we’re actually making more space to sit down with our thinking caps and craft the best strategies to catapult the business into new heights.

Cost savings

Small businesses often work with limited resources. Needless to say, resource allocation has a crucial role to play in their growth trajectory. Cost savings can help them utilize it for reinvestments, weathering through difficult times, remaining operational and also working towards long term sustainability. Imagine how much companies can save by transitioning to digital business cards, considering that according to research, most companies spend an average of £150 per employee, annually, on paper business cards.

Internal operations, HR administration and workflow management

Juggling different administrative tasks with lean departments, small enterprises may find Human Resource (HR) administration quite challenging. Smart digital business cards equip businesses to effortlessly manage, measure and oversee activities within the organization, including team activities, performances and management. Onboarding new employees is much easier, mostly Auto-updates ensure that changes in employee information will automatically be synced, relieving HR professionals of constant manual adjustments. Offboarding is another process that becomes simplified, as the leaving members’ cards can be freed up from the license to be reused.

Things also get easier for the HR department as they can control backend employee permissions without much ado. An administrator can lock certain fields or even selectively display a particular piece of information company-wide or at any other level, achieving uniformity and consistency in the delivery of information. The same can be done for landing pages as well.

Moreover, new employees can quickly access and start using the company’s standardized digital business cards, ensuring that they are aligned with the organization’s networking and lead generation practices from day one.

Sustainability

Given the growing inclination among customers and investors towards brands that practice sustainability, it has become ever so important for businesses to be mindful of the environmental and social impact of their operations. Incorporating sustainable practices into business strategies not only yields operational efficiency and save costs, it also elevates brand reputation and fosters stronger relationships with stakeholders and customers. The adoption of digital business cards aligns with sustainability initiatives while also demonstrating a company’s commitment to social responsibility and environment friendly practices.

The cool factor

Regardless of their evolution, business cards continue to stand as one of the most compelling means for businesses to establish a lasting first impression in the realm of networking. Thanks to smart business cards, not only can enterprises gracefully share their contact information with just a tap, they can also effortlessly showcase their modern approach to networking and lead generation. Especially for small businesses, emphasizing their tech-savviness can go a long way in underscoring their true potential to readily embrace innovative solutions to keep up with the dynamics of the fast paced business world. In a nutshell, to make a statement, and a memorable one at it.

Final thoughts

One thing is for sure; networking and lead generation today is not what it used to be a few years ago. In today’s fiercely competitive market landscape, small businesses should be leveraging every available technological advancement relevant to them to gain a competitive edge. When it comes to supplementing business growth with cost effective, sustainable and multifaceted smart solutions, switching to smart digital business cards is a great place to start.

Pieter Limburg, founder and CEO of Mobilo

Mobilo enables intelligent networking by offering four tools to build a complete, integrated networking funnel with one card. From smart business cards to lead generation forms, personal landing pages, or direct links to assets such as sales decks, presentations, or more, the Mobilo smart business card will help you tap into the future of intelligent networking. Having made over 25,000 companies switch from paper-based business cards to smart ones, Mobilo is revolutionizing the business networking landscape. The company's technology can effortlessly manage large teams of over 10,000 individuals thanks to its top-notch security and seamless interfaces of CRM systems and HR tools. It also ensures that digital business cards are created and updated automatically, requiring no user intervention.