Editor-in-Chief Jørgen Sundgot points out why traditional, paper-based business cards still have one up on the Bluetooth-based variety - and how to address it.
It's a funny thing. Everywhere you go these days - at least in Europe, if you're meeting with someone regarding business, chances are they'll have a Bluetooth-enabled device containing their contact information. Still, old-fashioned paper business cards represent the preferred manner in which to exchange contact information, even though it's far less hassle doing it the electronic way.
In fact, transferring contact information - whether it's via Bluetooth or Infrared - electronically is supposed to be easier than doing it the old fashioned way, but for some reason, most people I know have reverted to less rainforest-friendly means. Obviously, this means there's something wrong with doing it electronically - and I know exactly what it is.
You see, it's all a matter of interface. None of the major advanced device platforms have what I'd like to refer to as a "holding area", where incoming business cards could be placed pending processing. Now, those who attend large conferences - or simply meet new contacts on a regular basis - will know processing business cards is an exercise best attended to at a later point in time rather than being conducted immediately upon receipt, simply because there commonly isn't time for the latter option.
Moving to the electronic realm, some platforms do treat incoming Bluetooth cards as separate messages which can be stored in a folder, but in order to get the cards synchronized with a desktop PIM - where users prefer to process such data - the only way is to add the info to the on-device PIM database which doesn't discern between new and old entries. This invariably leads to the nightmare of going through contacts manually on the desktop to find out which ones are new - a pointless and futile exercise.
Needless to say, this task is insurmountable for users with large social and professional networks. The concept of a "holding area" would effectively tag new entries automatically upon a user configuring his or her device to do so, allowing a quick and simple overview of received business cards at any time, be it on the device or on the desktop when that time comes. Subsequently, users would be able to process and categorize new contacts neatly according to their preferences as easily as they would with their paper equivalents.
Personally, I've resorted to old fashioned business cards for the time being, as a result of one too many attempts at finding the famous needle in a haystack. So, if any operating system makers are reading this, for the love of God: get this fixed. Millions of grateful users should be incentive enough.
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