The Fall of Traditional Printed Business Cards
- Samuel Feldman
- Aug 9, 2021
- 7 min read
Updated: Aug 16, 2021
A look into NEQTR, the online business card networking app that is disrupting the traditional printing industry.
(Image credit: Moo.com)
As advancements progress in the 21st century, it is apparent that societal and cultural change comes with the betterment of technology. An older example could be the invention of cars in the late 1800s has now resulted in better, faster, and more reliable cars from then on all the way to the present. As a society, many car owners strive for luxury or speed; both come at a hefty price and require heavy innovation to stay at the top and in style. An industry that is experiencing this exact problem right now is the business card industry. With an effort being made to slow down the effects of climate change, many companies and people are transitioning to digital cards to prevent paper waste. However, this wasn’t always the case. Back before the days of LinkedIn and smartphones, business cards were the only way to exchange information at networking events. Aside from its practical purpose, the business card has also always provided a way to show off your style, from the font and color scheme to the paper stock and rigidness. Now there are countless digital alternatives to network and keep track of contacts.
These digital business cards are superior to retro-printed cards in many ways:
Business cards can be replaced by instant information exchange via mobile phone.
All one would have to do is ask for a contact number or email and can then freely exchange messages back and forth. There are also networking apps and sites like LinkedIn to virtually meet with any professional in the world for no cost. All you would need is a name or a company name, and essentially one could connect with anyone.
Little need for physical networking events.
In 2021 the need for physical meetings is quickly fading with the rise of digital video teleconferencing software like Zoom or Microsoft Teams. This was especially highlighted during the highest point of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Now anyone can set up virtual meetings with even more ease than a physical meeting. The exchange of information is just as easy, making the physical business card obsolete in this situation.
Digital business cards can provide richer information.
With a digital business card, one could add links, videos, and even in some cases, PDFs to enhance the card and provide a professional with all the information they would ever need. In this way, a traditional business card is limited because not only is the information finite, but the receiver of the card would need to manually input the information onto his computer or phone, making the card a burden.
The only reason one would continue to use a traditional printed card is because of one’s personal preference for the “old school” feel for the physical cards. They might even like to collect them for the meaningful and personal value they bring. A company attempting to change the user experience entirely is NEQTR, a company set on eliminating the traditional business card and innovating the industry. Through their app, one can create digital personalized business cards with contact details, social media links, and even QR codes and PDFs to enhance your card. This makes collecting and saving cards on your phone a total breeze.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Thomas Kane-Berman, the founder of NEQTR, to discuss the revolutionary app disrupting the traditional printing industry.
(Image credit: yourneqtr.com)
What is NEQTR?
NEQTR is an advancement in the way people network and share their information. You can create an unlimited amount of custom digital business cards and share them with anyone in the world. You can add all your contact details, social media links, and even PDFs for resumes and cover letters. Each NEQTR created will come with a custom QR Code and Link that can be shared and scanned with others. NEQTR makes it easy to store hundreds of digital business cards while building a vast, organized network instead of carrying around a collection of traditional paper ones.
What inspired you to start NEQTR?
When I left TCU, I decided to get an internship in San Diego, working in the county. I worked at one of the supervisor’s offices, doing the routine intern tasks, writing essays, and filling out Excel documents. I remember going out to many events, events at the Chambers of Commerce, or just to meet in the community. We'd go there, and most people at those events were business owners, but they were also running for positions in government. They wanted to get their name out there, so business cards were handed out right away before anybody shook hands. We'd go to these events, and my supervisor would collect all these business cards. He never carried his wallet on him, so his business cards were always in his car. The next day in the office, he would want those cards he received to get into his contact list. As the intern, I had the pleasure of putting all those business cards and information (around 50 cards) into constant contact, and I just spent so much time doing it. It truly was a nuisance, but I eventually did it. I later got asked, by another supervisor, if I would mind doing his as well. This time he had a stack of 400 cards. I thought this would take me all summer. I considered using a scanner to get the information onto my desktop. This wasn’t very effective as it essentially took a picture and did not copy down any of the information. I then realized that everyone has iPhones; there must be an app that can copy down that information. It turns out there is an app called Cam Card, which is one of the biggest business card scanning apps on the market. I downloaded and began to use it, however, some of the information wasn’t transferred correctly. For example, some email addresses were wrong, or some of the numbers were off, but it was still ten times faster than what I was doing previously. So I continue doing it this way, but after ten card scans, it asked me to buy their premium subscription for $80. I go to my supervisor and explain to him the problem, and he declines to purchase the subscription. As he walks away, he asks me, “So why don't you just think of something better?” This leads me to think and want to create something that would completely eliminate paper business cards forever.
What advantages do you believe you have over physical business card printers like Vistaprint as well as digital business card providers like Mobilocard or Ovuo?
Business cards can be printed anywhere. Sustainability is a massive part of the future. Companies want to be sustainable and do all these things that are better for the environment. Now I'm not going to sit here and tell you that my app, by removing and getting rid of paper business cards, will solve climate change. However these statistics do get overlooked. 88% of business cards will be thrown away, so all those paper and trees that go into making these cards will ultimately end up in the trash. So I just don't think that's the way of doing things anymore, especially from the world and sustainability perspective.
I think it's a significant step forward because instead of carrying around hundreds of cards, people are able to just carry one. However, my argument against my digital business card competitors is why even have just one card or one accessory? Just do it all through the phone since the technology is there. I can understand if that card was the only way to transmit information, but our app uses QR codes. Anybody with a camera is able to scan those, and it does the same thing as a traditional or digital card. We've seen a lot of growth from allowing people to attach PDFs to the business card, which no one else has done. Now, with the scan of a QR code, you're able to give someone not only your contact information and your social media links but also your resume and even cover letters.
What is your future vision for NEQTR?
In the future, we are looking to expand our My Contact section. In order to get into the My Contact section, you would currently need to create a card through the app, so an important goal is to continue to grow the app. We often get asked why we didn’t create a scanning feature for people to scan paper business cards? Our goal is to eliminate paper business cards completely. If we were to have a scanning feature, it would go against our objective.
We have an update coming out within the next two weeks where people will be able to put their contacts into groups. So if you have a bunch of real estate agents, you can create a group for real estate agents. If you have people that do freelancing work, put them in that group. We've been focusing more on the business card and sharing, but now, transitioning to the contact section, connecting it to CRMs, and having people export their contacts to CSVs is a significant focus for us. We know that to grow and get more users, we need to expand our network, so they can scan more of our NEQTR cards.
Those are the short-term updates. In the long-term, I do believe and want this app to become a huge success. I think it just comes down to us providing the value of saving time and money. We are in talks with larger organizations and businesses to take a customized approach to the app and use our technology and our platform for their employees.
About Thomas Kane-Berman
Thomas Kane-Berman is the founder of NEQTR. Before starting his venture, Thomas was able to gain valuable experience working for the County of San Diego, and MicroBasics. Thomas is based in Austin where he continues to develop NEQTR among other projects.
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